Paparazzi
by Xmarksthespot
Summary: With the latest rumour to hit the entertainment world, Nightwing struggles to convince everybody that Dick Grayson was NOT marrying Barbara Gordon, while dealing with a team that seemed to be more fascinated by celebrities than their own training.
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own YJ & I don't own this plot. The plot is originally from** GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titan's story "Drive By Media". I have asked for permission to use the plot for my own Young Justice story.  
**Words**: 2,400+  
**Notes**: Characters may be OOC. I'm not entirely familiar with the season 2 cast, and haven't really perfected season 1's either, so please bear with me. This takes place during season 2, but is more of an AU considering there's nothing involving the Kroloteans.

**X-X-X-**

"Oh my God, guys. Vera Wang. Vera _freaking_ Wang," Barbara announced, holding up the large box in her hands, carefully wrapped with satin and lace ribbons with the label clearly written in cursive on its lid. She quickly undid the bow and revealed to the crowd the _custom_ white gown that was hidden underneath.

Artemis raised an eyebrow in question. "I hate to burst your bubble, Barbara, but I grew up with assassins, and M'gann's from Mars. The only person who would know who or what _Vera freaking Wang_ is would be Zatanna and she's busy with League work today."

The redheaded human dropped her arms and stared at her friends in disbelief. Now, she wasn't the girliest of girls, but when it came to weddings, Barbara knew exactly what she wanted. She and her high school friend, Bette, had been planning this since they were children. Vera Wang's wedding gowns were _definitely_ one of the top choices on her list of must-haves for her wedding, despite the dresses costing more than what she would be able to make in years.

"So…" M'gann began, interrupting Barbara's visions of herself in the gown, "What does it mean, now that you have Vera…Wang?"

Getting up from her seat, Barbara had an aerial view of the entire plethora of presents, including the dream dress laid out in front of her; it made her heart twist and turn just at the thought of returning it. It was clear that there was nothing that could separate Barbara and the gown. With her hands on her hips and a confident smile, she said, "It means, ladies, that I _am_ getting married with Dick Grayson."

* * *

_3 weeks ago_

"Nightwing, can we take a break now, _please_?"

Following the initial request by one of the heroes at Mount Justice, many agreed in response, nodding along to the question. The older hero sighed and with a curt nod, allowed them to leave the training room for the day.

With a quick cheer, Beast Boy was one of the first to leave the room in his monkey-like form. "Dibs on TV!" He said dashing passed his teammates who frowned and chased after.

"Gar! My soaps are on now!" M'gann quickly called and went after the green boy as well. She, along with Lagoon Boy and Superboy (who didn't seem too pleased that his TV time was going to be stolen) left the room, leaving the two Bat protégés to themselves.

Nightwing smiled at their enthusiasm. Usually after training, he, Robin and Batgirl often stayed behind for further critiquing of their training styles, but with Barbara out in Gotham applying for summer jobs, Nightwing turned to face the newest Robin who waited eagerly nearby. "You did well today, Tim," he said the moment he noted no one was around. "Just keep working on those jumps of yours and soon enough you can come live with me at the circus."

Robin grinned at the joke and took Nightwing's advice to heart. He had to sit through a few more instructions with Nightwing who insisted he take a few more risks when fighting, followed by a congratulatory pat on the back that his "older brother" seemed to do when he was proud of something Tim had done. Not that Tim was complaining of course, as he was pleased when either Bruce or Dick had complimented him.

The two had stepped out of the training room, only to find their team huddled around the TV.

"I wonder what's on that's gotten them so interested?" Nightwing muttered out loud, waiting for the commercials to be over. He supposes he could've asked the team, but with his eyes glued to the screen and waiting for something to happen, as well as making mental notes in his head as to what to do at the manor now that Bruce was _finally_ gone on his League mission, he didn't bother.

La'gann's voice ran in the background. "Angelfish, why are you so fascinated by these two anyway?"

"Shh!" Both Karen and Cassie shushed the Atlantean and resumed to staring back at the screen.

That was when Nightwing looked up, curious as to what got even _Wonder Girl_ so interested, of all things – clearly not an action movie, since M'gann was equally gripped.

"_It was recently _confirmed_ that not too long after the graduation of the students at Gotham Academy, Richard "Dick" Grayson, ward of multi-billionaire, Bruce Wayne, _proposed_ to his, at the time _rumoured_ girlfriend, Barbara Gordon, daughter of Commissioner James Gordon." _

For a brief moment, Nightwing felt his lunch doing the trademark Flying Grayson flips in his stomach followed by a pair of leering eyes from behind the mask of Robin. He hoped his cheeks hadn't flushed too brightly at the mention of his and Barbara's names being put together by the paparazzi _again_.

Nightwing turned his head slightly to face the masked boy and shrugged, telling him that it was _clearly_ just another rumour. That is, until he heard the announcers speak on the screen.

"_An anonymous tip has also announced _where_ exactly the Grayson-Gordon marriage will take place, so we decided to check it out – it is here at this chapel where the beautiful ceremony will occur in less than two months time…"_

"Seems pretty legit to me," Nightwing heard Robin mutter under his breath before rolling his eyes behind the mask. He was about to turn around and leave the room – honestly, what about _Dick Grayson_ has the team so fascinated, anyway? – when suddenly he heard his phone vibrate. Nightwing pulled out his cell and noticed the mass texts from Wally who _clearly_ had just received the news as well.

Nightwing almost chuckled at the sight of the text _"Can I be your best man?"_ which Wally seemed to always ask whenever the media had paired him up with a girl. He didn't pay attention to Robin's questioning look when he sat down with his team in front of the TV, and was about to suggest they watch _something else_ more meaningful until the slideshow of Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon (photos from when they were children until recent) had finished, letting the reporter mention something else.

"_Commissioner James Gordon, father of the future bride, has denied all interviews until further notice. Rather, the Gordon family seems to be trying to stay out of public eye as much as possible._

"_As you can see here, just moments ago Barbara Gordon was spotted trying to make her way out of her home and running away from the paparazzi as quickly as possible. Although the photographers could not catch up to her, many speculate that she's heading towards her new home at Wayne Manor."_

Nightwing groaned, half listening to the television host who was listing the pros and cons of Barbara living with him at Wayne Manor or moving out with him, and half listening to his team who curiously wondered what was wrong with him.

"Nightwing?" M'gann asked. "Is everything okay?"

Shaking his head, he ran his hands through his hair. He sighed at the thought of how serious this rumour has been getting, at least, more serious and realistic than the usual. Suddenly, as if he had inherited a sixth sense since his training started with Batman, Nightwing sat up straight and glanced at the entranceway.

"Three," he said, which further raised questions among his teammates, "Two, one…"

_Batgirl: B-1-6_

"NIGHT. WING."

Everyone turned their heads from the screen to see an enraged Batgirl enter the room, hands balled up in fists and a scowl on her face.

"Uh oh…someone's in trouble," Jaime sang, earning a few snickers and a Bat-approved glare from their den-mother. Of course, the team had respected Nightwing too much and initially never thought to tease him as they would with each other, but after some time of getting to know the man, they knew he didn't mind being treated as one of them – Batgirl often did say he had a mind of a child, regardless of his age.

Suddenly, everyone stopped chattering in order to witness yet another fight between the pair.

"Yes, Batgirl?" Nightwing asked innocently, grinning at the furious girl, out of her uniform and donning the pair of sunglasses he had given her upon her initiation to the team three years prior.

"You. Me. Your room. We need to talk. _Now_," Barbara growled, crossing her arms as if she meant business.

"Oh la la, Robin's going to be an uncle soon!"

Too much laughter had followed immediately after that comment, including Robin who seemed to be having a lot of fun with the situation and didn't bother to correct their facts about his and Nightwing's relation. However, Nightwing was fixated on how angry his childhood friend was to lecture whoever had said that – then again, they were almost all teens and were entitled to have some fun once in a while, even at his own expense.

He followed the redheaded girl towards his temp bedroom at the mountain, knowing that Barbara must have been really pissed off if she wanted to "talk" in a room with the highest security feature (despite it being almost completely empty) where even Superboy couldn't hear any conversations taking place.

The moment he shut the door behind them, Barbara hadn't hesitated to start the conversation.

"Do you want to explain why I was chased out of my own home this morning by the paparazzi?" She crossed her arms again and tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for Nightwing to answer.

Pulling off his mask and smiling sheepishly, Dick replied, "Babs, what are you talking about?"

"Don't lie to me. It was on the TV screen when I came here: our _marriage_."

Dick shrugged in response. "Just another rumour, B. Nothing to worry about. I'll make sure everything's settled once I get home – the media won't bother you and your dad again." He began to take another step towards the door, believing the discussion to be over when he felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back. He turned to face her again; his eyebrows rose to silently question her.

Pulling an item out of her pocket and revealing it to the man, Barbara said, "Then what's _this_?"

"…A box?"

"Inside, Grayson!" She tossed the small box towards him, which he caught with ease. "It's a ring. But not just any ring –"

"My mother's engagement ring? But how…"

"It was in my mailbox, addressed to me. So you better explain to me _why_ and _how_ this all happened, or you're going to be in a whole lot of trouble, Pixie Boots."

* * *

"That was quicker than usual," Robin was the first to speak when the two older Bat protégés stepped out of Nightwing's room, earning a smile on Nightwing's face and a scowl from Barbara. Sitting on the couch with a bowl of popcorn on his lap and his legs stretched out, Robin turned his head slightly to face him.

Of course, Nightwing shook his head, implying that he'd explain everything to the younger bird in private. Then he voiced his thoughts, "Superboy, you're in charge of the team's training today. I gotta…do something."

"Baby look, Nightwing finally had the gall to ask Batgirl out," Karen teased as she lifted her head from Mal's shoulders. She then turned to her boyfriend and smirked. "I told you he'd ask her out first – think you owe me twenty bucks."

Barbara expressed her opinion on the matter with a loud enough sigh that interrupted the giggles amongst her teammates. "We are _not_ going on a date, Karen"

"Whatever you say, girl."

Annoyed, Barbara turned to face Nightwing again who took the hint. The masked vigilante listed instructions to the clone and after receiving a curt nod from the original member of the team, he turned around and followed Barbara out of the mountain.

They had chosen to beam straight to the Batcave in order to prevent anyone from seeing them on the streets, had they showed up in their usual telephone booth. Now that they were _the_ most talked about couple in America, Dick knew their appearance _together_ on the streets would be haywire.

"Master Richard! Thank goodness you've come home early," Alfred greeted the pair. "So far, you've received requests for interviews by eleven different entertainment networks, many phone calls from Master Bruce's accomplices as well as your friends from the Academy _and_ Commissioner Gordon, who I must say, is quite displeased at your lack of action concerning this event."

Groaning, Dick placed his fingers on the sides of his head and began to rub his temples. _Of course_ it would be after Bruce had left that another scandal would arise.

"Alright, Babs. Time to go tell the world of our break u –"

His phone suddenly rang. Although initially tempted to ignore it, believing it to be one of his _friends_ from the Academy wishing him well with marriage (or Wally), he realized that the musical tone that came from it was reserved to Mount Justice members only.

"Hello?" He responded.

"Nightwing, it's me," Conner said.

"Yeah, what's up? Don't tell me you lost control of them already, Supes."

"_No_, not that."

"Then what is it? Sorry, Conner, but I'm a little busy right now and –"

"We got a fax…"

This captured Dick's interest, and he hurriedly stepped over towards the Bat-computer. After putting his mask back on and making sure Alfred was out of sight and Barbara with her glasses, he placed his phone down into a slot that allowed the video feature to come on. He looked at the screen where an image of Conner, M'gann and Robin were standing – Robin was holding the faxed letter.

Inwardly, Nightwing ran a list of people who would _fax_, of all things, to Mount Justice. There weren't many on the list – anyone who knew of the mountain's inhabitants would be a fellow hero, and would've called or even gone through the Zeta beams themselves, rather than fax.

"What does it say, Conner? And who's it from?"

"Don't know. We can't find where it came from, but the letter is addressed to us."

"And?"

"…And it's asking us to be the bodyguards at the wedding of _Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon_."

* * *

**A/N:** Made up Batgirl's Zeta tube number since her's hasn't been confirmed yet (or so the internet says). Hope I didn't butcher their characteristics too badly.

Edit Feb 10, 2013: Fixed BG's zeta number to the appropriate designation.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own YJ & I don't own this plot. The plot is originally from** GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titan's story "Drive By Media". I have asked for permission to use the plot for my own Young Justice story.  
**Words**: 2,300+  
**Notes**: Thank you so much for the feedback guys! I really appreciate it!

**X-X-X-**

"_And it's asking us to be the bodyguards at the wedding of _Dick Grayson_ and _Barbara Gordon_."_

There was an initial look of confusion spread across Nightwing's face, but it didn't last very long. Within a few seconds to regain composure, he gave his trademark grin at the circumstances. "_Really_ now?" he said, and could _feel _the anger radiating off of Barbara behind him.

"Nightwing, don't turn this into a game," she lectured, only to be ignored. "Someone _knows_ about the team."

"Come on, Batgirl, I'm sure whoever sent this is a good person. They probably know how much you idolize _the_ Richard Grayson," Nightwing said with a snicker, and was about to be yelled at before Robin spoke up.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt your latest romantic moment guys," said Robin, "but I'm going to send you the details right now. Maybe the bat-computer could locate its origins." The young boy was seen typing furiously on the Mount Justice software before the screen turned blue with details about the fax, including a copy of the letter itself.

"Right," Nightwing responded and cleared his throat, "Batgirl, Robin, and I will look at this first and see if there's anything suspicious about it. We'll get back to you later. Thanks, Superboy." With that, their video conversation had ended.

As Barbara made her way to the computer chair, Nightwing found himself staring at the mysterious letter that was on the screen in front of him, concentrating deeply on its contents and ignoring the tapping noises Barbara was making with her nails as she typed on the keyboard. He tried to connecting the dots to the security cameras in his own room, which had showed no sign of a break in; Dick still didn't know how his mother's engagement ring made it all the way to Barbara's mailbox.

It wasn't until Tim arrived at the cave that Nightwing was reminded to take his mask off. He turned his head away from the screen.

"Does the team know?" He asked the young hero.

Tim shook his head. "Not yet. Conner and M'gann were the only ones to know about it – I found out almost after cause I was about to head home when I caught them reading the letter."

Nodding, Dick looked back at the screen. Whoever had sent it had managed to get the letterhead of Wayne Industries _and_ forged his and Barbara's signatures at the bottom. He glanced at the redhead sitting in front of the computer who seemed to be equally troubled.

"Found anything yet, Babs?"

She was silent at first, and then spun around on her chair to face them. "I've managed to locate where the fax came from by connecting to the computers at the mountain, but… It's at the postal office on the intersection of Second and King Street here in Gotham. The thing is hundreds of people go through that building each day in order to send deliveries and fax messages."

"Hmm, alright. Tim, see if you can find out _when_ exactly that fax was sent from the office, so we can limit our search," the older hero said, then turned to face Barbara. "Babs, come with me."

Getting up from her seat, Barbara raised an eyebrow as she stared back at Dick. "And where exactly am I going?"

The former acrobat grinned. "I think it's time to introduce the world to my _fiancée._"

* * *

"My dad's going to have a heart attack, Dick."

"Which is _why_ we're telling him the truth. Well, most of it," Dick replied, staring out of the black tinted windows of the car. Luckily, the reporters hadn't surrounded the entire manor, so Alfred was able to drive them out of one of the hidden garages out back.

Barbara glared at him. "Why can't we just deny our engagement to the press?"

"Because whoever's doing this knows about our _other_ identities, Barbara. This isn't some rumour anymore – someone's out to get us, and we can't find out who unless we keep this rumour afloat. We won't confirm the rumours, but we technically won't deny it either. And it also means we need to get the team involved."

"You're not actually serious about getting the _team_ involved, are you? Bruce is going to flip if he finds out our identities are blown. He already looked like he had an aneurysm when _I_ found out who you guys were. And must I really remind you about his reaction to Tim?" Barbara frowned. She turned her head slightly to view the slow pace of the car, most likely trying to make its way through the heavy crowds surrounding her house; she was already dreading having to go inside.

"We're not going to tell them who we are, Babs. And it's not like I'm going to get _all_ of them involved. Besides, if the team's involved, then we're falling right into _their_ plans, whoever they are, and it'll just help us with figuring this all out," Dick explained before cracking another smile. "Looks like this is our stop," he casually mentioned the moment Alfred had pulled over.

He turned to face the redhead sitting next to him. "Are you ready for the press?"

Barbara sighed. "As ready as I'll ever be," she said before opening the car door and being enveloped by a series of flashes.

Dick got out of the car just as quickly, shutting the door behind him and allowing Alfred to drive away in peace. He wrapped his arm protectively around Barbara's shoulder to guide her into the building and raised his other arm to try to block their faces from being captured in the photographs. He ignored any questions targeted at him concerning his hidden relationship and his future marriage plans.

"Remind me in the future that if I ever get married," he whispered jokingly in her ear while heading towards the doorway of the Gordon residence, "to do it on another planet."

* * *

The two men sat directly across from each other around the dining room table, which Dick remembered almost snapping in half in attempt to do a flip off of the kitchen counters as a child. There had been silence between the two as Jim Gordon glared demonically at the young man before him, one hand on his lap which was tempted to reach for the gun in his holster. Even Barbara, sitting in between the two, was too caught up in the staring contest to do anything.

To break the tension, Dick gave another sheepish grin. "So…"

The officer gave a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose before closing his eyes. "You're telling me, young man, that someone is out to get Bruce and his company through you and my daughter? Shouldn't the cops be involved with this?"

Dick nodded. "Yes, we think that the culprit is trying to distract Bruce and his employees through this scheme and then expose someone or something from the company. But we also realized that if the cops were involved, not only would the public grow crazy, but the person behind this will take more dangerous risks to ensure the downfall of Wayne Industries. But I assure you, I definitely didn't want _Barbara_ involved in this kind of situation," Dick explained, but when his eyes momentarily connected with Barbara's stare, he continued, "Er, not that being engaged to your daughter's a bad thing, but uh, I just don't feel that way – wait, she's a great person, but we're not…"

"I think what Dick is _trying_ to say, daddy," Barbara interrupted, "is that you can be at rest because this whole thing is just a hoax. I'm not engaged to Dick, and I'm _definitely_ not dating him." She ignored the offended look on Dick's face.

Jim remained stern, despite his daughter's and Dick's explanations. He continued to stare in Dick's direction before saying something. "And where is Bruce in all this?"

Scratching the back of his head, Dick tried to explain. "Out on a business trip," he said, but with the suspicious look on the Commissioner's face, he continued. "You see, Alzheimer's runs in Alfred's family, and Bruce wanted to find a cure for it in case it kicks in soon – Alfred's been forgetting a lot of stuff lately and it's worrying all of us, especially Bruce since the old guy's been like a father to him. He's leading a team of researchers in the Amazonian rainforest now in hopes of finding something for the cure. There's limited tech with them, so I guess the news here has been delayed getting to him. I'm in charge of the company until then."

Jim finally gave a sigh, which allowed Dick to relax a little. "I still don't like how you kids are being secretive about this. I should at least –"

"No need, Mr. Gordon. Bruce has his connections, and I've already contacted them. They're trying to figure all this out from inside the company first, before we get anyone else involved. However, I'll make sure you're informed with anything that we find out. Barbara's safety is top priority – again, I'm sorry for having her involved."

The edge of Dick's lips twitched somewhat as Jim was the least bit phased by his explanations. But he was somewhat of a pathological liar – not as great as Tim, though – and hoped that his response to the older man seemed natural enough to convince him.

Finally lifting the hand that was secured around his gun (Dick released a sigh of relief), Jim reached it out to shake Dick's hand.

"Alright, son. Good luck with handling these affairs of yours," he said, but then turned to his daughter, "Barbara, a word please?"

Getting up from her seat, Barbara noticed Dick giving her a questioning glance before following her father into the living room; her father kept his voice low to prevent the heir of Wayne Industries from hearing anything.

"Barbara, remember that birthday present that I gave you earlier this year?"

Barbara's eyebrows furrowed. "Yes, daddy."

"Use it."

Her lips parted slightly, gasping at her father's insinuation, but nodded obediently anyway. When she met up with Dick later on, she shook her head, already slightly blushing at the idea of digging through her closet for the gift: a _chastity belt_.

* * *

"_Here we can see Dick Grayson leading his fiancée, Barbara Gordon, inside of the Gordon house a little over three hours ago. No word yet from the couple on this surprising turn of events…"_

"You're still watching that?" Robin asked, surprising his teammates who had been focused attentively on the big screen since he left earlier that day.

"Robin! You have _got_ to stop popping up like that! Even Conner freaks out because he can't hear you," Cassie said furiously, crossing her arms. She ignored Superboy's mutterings on how he was capable of hearing the Bats' arrival and how she was wrong. "And _duh_!"

Robin rolled his eyes, though no one noticed due to his mask. He proceeded to sit down next to Jaime.

"Don't tell me you're interested by this stuff too, Jaime?" Robin asked, leaning his head sideways to rest on the palm of his hands. The reporter was now going through the history of the Wayne family – he tried to ignore the images of himself and Dick at their last social gathering.

"No way, Hermano," Jaime said, but his leering eyes towards the TV told Robin differently; it was just _too_ focused on the image of Barbara Gordon. "But you should've seen La'gaan jump like a flying fish earlier when he tried to take the remote away from his girl – no! I told you, those are _not_ wanted criminals. No, we are _not_ going to go after them. I – urgh. One sec, Robin," Jaime said, getting up to go battle with his inner demons in peace where no one could hear him.

Watching him leave, and turning his attention back to his teammates, Robin sighed. _I wonder how Dick and Barbara are –_

_Nightwing: B-0-1, Batgirl: B-1-6_

Everyone turned and watched as the duo stepped into the room; Nightwing somewhat reacted to what he saw on the TV screen again, but Batgirl just crossed her arms at the sight. All in all, they looked too serious to be in a joking mood, so no one bothered to tease at their arrival together.

"We need Superboy, Miss Martian, and Robin to come with us. Everyone else…I expect you back in the training room in thirty minutes," Nightwing instructed.

* * *

"What is it, Nightwing?" M'gann asked curiously, wondering why they were pulled aside.

"Robin, Batgirl, and I have something to do in Gotham, but in the meantime, you and Conner are going to go on a different mission: an undercover mission."

"What kind of undercover?" Conner asked.

Nightwing pulled up the images of two familiar faces onto the screen.

"You two will be the bodyguards of Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon for the –" Nightwing was cut off when he realized there was shuffling noises outside of the room. Lips pressed in a firm line, he made his way towards the door.

"_Oof! Girl, get off of me!"_

"_You're the one who's in the way, Karen!"_

"_Shh, guys, I can't hear anything, I –"_

"_What's going on? What did they say about Dick Grayson?"_

Nightwing opened the door, and the rest of the team spilled into the room. He sighed and wondered just how many more rumours he could take before packing up his bags and moving to space.

"I bet," he started, disappointed at how _covert_ his covert ops team was, "you're all here for the mission regarding Dick Grayson, aren't you?"

"Uh, YEAH," everyone chorused.

Nightwing tried _really_ hard not to be disturbed by their enthusiasm at the sound of his civilian name.

* * *

**A/N**: Updates will be slow, unfortunately. I don't really have a set plan for this story yet, so just struggling to think about how I want things to go is going to take some time. Please be patient and I'll try to update when I can.

And as always, please review (more reviews = quicker updates).


	3. Chapter 3

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own YJ & I don't own this plot. The plot is originally from** GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titan's story "Drive By Media". I have asked for permission to use the plot for my own Young Justice story.  
**Words**: 2,100+  
**Notes**: Thank you for the reviews! I loved them all!

**X-X-X-**

"_Uh, YEAH!"_

_Nightwing tried _really_ hard not to be disturbed by their enthusiasm at the sound of his civilian name._

"Sorry, guys, but we can't have too many people on this mission. We wouldn't want the public to react to this," Nightwing explained, but received no nod of understanding from the team.

"Come on, Nightwing. Isn't that the whole point of us being _covert_? You know, to be secretive and all?" Garfield asked. "We can take it."

"And why is it always _those_ two?!" La'gaan growled angrily, but pointed specifically towards Conner who frowned and crossed his arms. M'gann then approached her boyfriend to calm him.

Scratching the back of his head, Nightwing tried to come up with a reasonable explanation.

"Dick Grayson is a public figure. This means, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, that he can't have Atlanteans following him, or green children or animals," he said, looking at La'gaan and Garfield, "Or teenagers – especially teenagers who argue with their own battle armor." Nightwing directed his attention to Cassie and Jaime. "He will almost always be followed –we can't risk one of you being caught. Logically speaking, Conner and M'gann are our best choices in terms of–"

"Mhm," Karen interrupted. "And what about us, Nightwing?" She asked, pointing to herself and Mal. "Aren't we considered human enough?"

Mal looked a little uncomfortable at being mentioned for a mission, but decided to hear out on the explanation.

"I'm sure Nightwing did consider you guys," Batgirl started, "but both M'gann and Conner have had experience with undercover missions before. Nightwing has already talked to Grayson, and even he agrees that two is enough for now, but if we need more backup, you guys will be the first to be contacted." She glanced towards their leader for assurance.

Nightwing nodded and turned to face the younger members. "Rocket and Zatanna will be taking turns as your den-mother for the time being. And unless I have specifically instructed it, or have one of the senior members tell you, no one here will be going on missions for the time being."

There was a wave of disappointment amongst the team, but thankfully, they had accepted their fate. But before Nightwing could ask them to leave, Wonder Girl had boldly walked up to him.

"So since we can't actually meet Dick Grayson," Cassie piped up with glee in her voice, "Do you think you could like, get us an autograph?"

Suddenly, Batgirl laughed. "Cass, I hope you're joking, cause I've met Richard Grayson before, and trust me, he's not _that_ great."

"I don't know, Batgirl. You looked pretty dazzled to me," Nightwing joked, and then turned to the blonde in front of him. "Batgirl, Robin, and I won't actually be there for the mission – we have something else to do and will be constantly in and out of the mountain – but I'm sure Conner and M'gann would be able to get something for you, Cass," Nightwing said with a smile, knowing all too well that both Robin and Batgirl were rolling their eyes.

"Hey, could you get one for me too?"

"And me!"

"I want a souvenir!"

* * *

"_According to an inside source, Bruce Wayne's ex-girlfriend and international supermodel, Jezebel Jet, was _not_ invited to the wedding of his ward, Richard "Dick" Grayson and Barbara Gordon. This may be because of an incident that took place over five years ago, when Grayson was rumoured to have interrupted Wayne's and Jet's date and claimed that no woman could take Wayne away from him."_

"Che, daddy complex," Jaime laughed as he laid across an entire couch, hand reaching for the bowl of popcorn which Garfield (sitting on the floor) held in his arms. The boy had quickly transformed into a small, green lemur and ran away with bowl in hand, prompting Jaime to chase after him.

Cassie ignored the small dispute between Jaime and Gar on the other side of the living room as she sighed depressingly, still watching the TV screen. When she had first arrived at Mount Justice, following the events of Dick Grayson was what really connected her and the other girls, considering each person had different interests and hadn't had much to talk about – not to mention she got on M'gann's bad side for crushing on Conner, back when the two were still dating. It didn't take long though for her to start crushing on the former acrobat as well.

"_Also on the invite list is long-time family friend, Oliver Queen and his fiancée, Dinah Lance – though no reports on whether Queen's estranged ward, and close friend of Grayson, Roy Harper, will be making any appearances."_

Cassie exhaled exaggeratedly again, only to hear La'gaan let out a frustrated growl, before going through the portal back to Atlantis. He was clearly too upset at the thought of Miss Martian and Superboy going on _another_ mission together.

However, the update on the TV screen was what brought her attention back to current events.

"_What's this? Ladies and gentlemen, we have an update on the Grayson-Gordon wedding! It appears that _Lex Luthor_ was invited to –"_

"What?!" The remaining crowd at the mountain exclaimed, shocked at the news.

* * *

"WHAT? LEX IS INVITED?!"

M'gann furrowed her brows and held up her hand towards Conner in a defensive position. "Superboy, maybe we should let Mr. Grayson here explain first." She then turned to the couple sitting on the couch opposite of her and Conner, both seeming to be stressed by the front page of the newspaper.

The man smiled sweetly, and said, "You don't have to call me that, Miss Martian. Richard is fine, or even Dick."

His suave voice forced M'gann to wonder whether the rumours were true, that Richard Grayson was as flirtatious as his guardian. She shook away the thought and quickly focused her attention on the mission. She needed to make sure she was attentive as possible to seem professional. "So we were told by Nightwing that this was a large rumour gone wrong with the public. In fact, it's one of the worst of all the accusations you've had in your life, especially since it's concerning, well, us."

Dick nodded and leaned back on the couch, one hand pushing his hair back and the other stretched out along the back of the couch behind Barbara. He looked back up to see Superboy still focusing half of his attention on the newspaper (he reminded himself to talk to Conner later on about paying attention to the wrong things at the wrong time).

"Yeah, usually it's Bruce's problem, and even if it involves me and _one_ of my girls," Dick smirked, "things die down after a few days. But then we get a call from Nightwing –well Alfred got a call from him –and we were told that the Mini Justice League were involved too, of all things! I mean, this is crazy, right?"

He turned to Barbara whose serious composure remained since the arrival of Miss Martian and Superboy. Dick continued to speak, "I mean, if they wanted me to be in the spotlight, why add in Barbara, here? No offense, Babs, but the press doing a report on Dick Grayson and a newly recruited librarian isn't very exciti– ow! Babs!" Dick shouted as the redhead next to him decided to end his speech with her elbow. Truthfully, he was glad that she was _finally_ showing some emotion, even if his gut was bruised.

"So what are your ideas?" Barbara asked, ignoring the man-child next to her. "Do we, or do we not tell the press that we're not actually engaged?"

It was Conner's turn to speak next. "Nightwing instructed us to act as your bodyguards for the time being. We'll go with you to every place that you're supposedly registered to and dig for more details on this whole rumour thing."

"Yes, and hopefully we'll find some sort of clue that leads us to the culprit," Miss Martian finished, smiling optimistically.

* * *

After Miss Martian and Superboy had left (though Dick and Barbara did have to wait a while to make sure they were _really _gone, considering Superboy's hearing), the pair quickly headed towards the cave, meeting with Tim.

"So I've figured out what time exactly this fax was sent," Tim said as he typed onto the Bat-computer. He turned his body so that he could face both Dick and Barbara. "But when I hacked into their security footage…Well, I don't think you're going to like what I found."

Looking up and walking towards the computer, Dick had an urge to take over and find out for himself, but told himself to let the new Boy Wonder practice with invading into people's privacy via the computer. Instead, he asked, "What did you find?"

Pulling up a black and white video, the occupants in the cave watched the screen as it showed an errand boy with a stack of papers in his arms. He looked no older than twenty and was stumbling quite often with his work. Then, much to Dick's disappointment, the young adult pulled the documents from the top of the pile, and one by one, began to fax them according to their instructions.

"His name is David Fields – just started his internship a few months ago," Tim said, displaying the man's profile onto the large computer screen, next to the video footage. "That's basically his job. A bunch of people just give him stacks of paper every day and he faxes them."

"He probably didn't even know what he was sending," muttered Dick, pressing down on a button to rewind the footage and watch it again.

Barbara stepped over towards him. "We should at least go through his background as well as everyone else whom he ran into that day, including his bosses and their accomplices." She turned over to the two males, who unlike her, were frowning at the thought of all the researching they had to do. She rolled her eyes. "Come on, we might as well start now – we're meeting Conner and M'gann later."

"We are?" asked Tim.

Dick grinned. "Sorry, bud. Just me and Babs – we're going to church."

* * *

"_Mr. Grayson – over here!"_

"_Miss Gordon, is it true that you're expecting a baby?"_

"_Will any of your exes be invited to the wedding, Mr. Grayson?"_

"_How do Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon feel about all this?"_

Superboy, dressed in a black suit that was given to him by the butler at Wayne manor as well as a pair of dark sunglasses, gently pushed through the crowd of paparazzi which allowed Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon towards the large doors of the church.

Miss Martian was closely behind, with her red hair changed to a darker auburn that was tied into a bun, as well as a matching suit and shades like Superboy. She made sure that no photographer or reporter could follow after the pair. However, the sight of Dick and Barbara walking into the church together made her inwardly sigh in disappointment that the Gotham's Prince and Princess were _not_ a couple.

"So this is the place we're supposed to get married in," Barbara muttered upon entering the building, eyes moving around the room and soaking in every detail – she had to admit, it was a _very_ beautiful church. Kind of like one of those grand cathedrals she had always hoped to marry in.

"Ah, Mr. Grayson, I just received a phone call from your butler announcing your arrival! It's good to have finally met you," an older man said as he approached them.

"Likewise, Reverend," Dick began, but stepped aside for Superboy to move through.

The large bodyguard retrieved several documents from the inside coat pocket and gave it to the Reverand. "Sign here, please," Conner said, doing what he was instructed to do. The forms were confidentiality forms, of course, making sure that nothing said in their meeting would leak to the press.

After it was signed, Dick spoke again, "Thank you Reverand. Barbara and I just had some questions to as – sorry," Dick quickly apologized as the phone in his pocket began to ring.

The phone which Dick had fished out was a custom, one of a kind phone that both he and Bruce had worked on, specifically for missions like these. They had even tested it on Superman, who had claimed that he couldn't hear anything the person on the other line said – perfect for when working with Superboy.

Dick stepped aside, leaving a suspicious Barbara, as well as some confused bodyguards and Reverend.

"Alfred?"

"Master Richard, there is a person on the other line wishing to speak to you," the British man said.

"A little busy at the moment, Alf."

"You might want to answer it, sir. It's from Master Bruce – he wants to hear from your own mouth why, before attempting to take out the Justice League, Miss Talia and Ra's Al Ghul congratulated him on…the recent story to have made headlines."

* * *

**A/N:** If anyone seems out of character at all, whatsoever, please tell me (and with possible suggestions on how to fix it, if possible) - again, I'm not too familiar with season 2 cast, and I'm trying to do as much research on them as possible.

Updates will take some time, especially with school starting now, so please bear with me.

**Also**, for all you Dick and Babs shippers out there (yes, that means you), I wrote a story over the summer that's incredibly long...like, if your teacher tells you to write a 39-page essay long. And although I think it would work better as one single chapter, you (the readers) may not agree and would want it split into several chapters. Or, you would rather it be posted all at once because you don't like waiting for updates. So I have a **poll** on my profile. _You_ get to choose, and I will upload the story once I'm confidant with what I've edited (the problem with a 39 page story is it takes a while to edit..and I like editing my stories more than twice.)

Again, more reviews = faster updates. :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: **Paparazzi**  
By: **Xmarksthespot**  
Disclaimer: ** I don't own YJ & I don't own this plot. The plot is originally from **GraysonsGirl **and her Teen Titan's story "Drive By Media". I have asked for permission to use the plot for my own Young Justice story.  
**Words: **2,400+  
**Note: **Thank you to reviewers and favoriters and alerters. Also, this chapter is not meant to insult those affected by/with Alzheimer's; it's used for comedic effect only

**X-X-X-**

"_Alfred?"_

"_Master Richard, there is a person on the other line wishing to speak to you," the British man said._

"_A little busy at the moment, Alf."_

"_You might want to answer it, sir. It's from Master Bruce – he wants to hear from your own mouth why, before attempting to take out the Justice League, Miss Talia and Ra's Al Ghul congratulated him on… the recent story to have made headlines."_

Dick sighed, and dipped his face into the palm of his hand. "One moment please," he said before turning around to the crew behind him. "Um, Babs, important phone call – work related stuff. Do you think you can handle this for a bit?"

The redhead nodded, allowing Dick to focus on his phone conversation on the other side of the room.

"Alright, Alf. Where is he?" He asked before hearing a beeping noise followed by his guardian's gruff voice.

"Dick?"

"Yes, Bruce?" Dick said, catching Conner giving him a suspicious look in the corner of his eye – the hero must have been wondering why he couldn't hear anyone from the other side of the line.

"Explain to me _why_ I have my ex and her father sending their congratulations to you and Barbara?"

Dick tried to imagine Ra's Al Ghul and Talia wishing him well in marriage, but the thought was quite frightening. "A rumour getting out of hand. No need to worry though – you and all of the others out there in the rainforest keep searching for the cure for Alzheimer's, Bruce – Alfred _needs_ you! He forgot to pour milk into my cereal this morning!" Dick exclaimed and continued to ramble on about Alfred's supposed illness.

"Dick…" Bruce began in his lecturing tone of voice, which brought the ward back to the proper topic.

"Oh, right…Uh, I'll deal with things here. Babs and I are fixing things as we speak, and the new bodyguards are making sure the press is out of the way."

"New bodyguards?"

"Yep, just hired them. There's two and I think they're a couple cause they keep giving these weird looks to each other, but Babs says I'm just seeing things," Dick casually explained, though knew Bruce was getting much more information than actually being revealed to him through words. "Anyway, speaking of Barbara, she's giving me the stink eye for leaving her alone with the Reverend. Gotta go."

"Alright Dick… Be careful."

With that, the two hung up and Dick turned to see Barbara smiling and giving her thanks to the Reverend. Realizing that their trip to the church was over, Dick also waved a goodbye – apologizing to the Reverend again about the phone call – and placed his arm around Barbara's shoulder.

As Superboy and Miss Martian weaved through the crowd outside of the church again, Dick gave Barbara a look, only to get another one back that was filled with frustration, clearly a sign that there wasn't much information that could've been dug up from the Reverend. However, both knew that they would cover this later on back at the cave.

Getting into the car, both Superboy and Miss Martian sat several seats away from the fake bride and groom, but this hadn't kept them from communicating with one another.

"Were you just speaking with Bruce Wayne? Why didn't you tell him the truth about what's going on here?" Superboy asked, surprisingly not mentioning the fact that he couldn't hear anything from Bruce's line of the phone call.

Dick looked up and feigned the look of surprise.

Miss Martian seemed to be equally shocked as she gave the black haired man a look – she was scolding him through their mind link.

Finally smiling, Dick shook it off. "Oh you heard that? Should've known seeing as you're Superman's son and all."

"Brother," Superboy corrected. "I'm his younger brother."

But Dick ignored it and continued with his explanation. "Well Bruce is busying himself on a business trip now, working on a project and I don't want to worry him too much." He decided to make things easier on himself and changed the topic; he turned to face Barbara, "Anyway, did you find out who set us up?"

The redhead shook her head. "No, the Reverend said that he got a phone call from a woman, who had no distinguishable accent, claiming to work for you and Bruce, and that she'd send the documents to the church later on with the details; the Reverand said that when he gets it, he'll contact us. It was only because you're a high profiled person that the church allowed it – they weren't even the ones who told the entertainment networks we were 'marrying' there."

Miss Martian nodded. "I read his mind too; he wasn't lying."

Dick exhaled. "Why is it that when Bruce leaves, I suddenly get more work than I signed up for?"

* * *

"Young master, you have guests…" Alfred announced, just as Dick, Barbara, along with Superboy and Miss Martian had sat down to discuss their work together in the future.

"Who is it, Alfr – Wally? Artemis?" Dick was genuinely shocked, and silently scolded himself for not keeping Wally up to date with the news – _of course_ if his best friend wasn't going to wait to be told, he'd come straight to the source. "What are you guys doing here? You should've called – we could have picked you up from Central!"

Both Dick and Barbara got up and greeted the new couple arriving at the manor, and pretended to have missed the perplexed expressions on Miss Martian's and Superboy's face.

"We heard you guys were getting married – we had to show up!" Wally said. "Besides, Arty and I were visiting her mom and decided to stop by." He flopped down onto the couch and turned to face the two bodyguards in suits next to him. "Dude, when did your security get so tight?" Then: "Hey, I'm Wallace – or Wally. Best man." He held out a hand to shake both Miss Martian's and Superboy's hands, increasing their confusion at the turn of events.

Dick smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Walls. We're just going through some things right now. Hey, Babs, why don't we go help Alfred with the refreshments? I'm sure Wally's a little famished from the trip here and Artemis must be thirsty from yelling at him so much."

Artemis let out a small laugh. "Thanks, guys. We'd appreciate it."

After the pair left, the remaining four all faced one another.

"What are you doing here?" they all asked at the same time.

"How you know Dick Grayson?" Miss Martian questioned, taking off her sunglasses.

"I was friends with him and Barbara back in high school. Wally met them through me," Artemis explained. "How do you guys know him? I thought Batman has the no metas-rule in Gotham – does he know you're here?"

Superboy nodded. "We're on a mission – somehow the team was contacted and was asked to supervise this wedding fiasco without Richard Grayson knowing. We –" He paused when he heard the scuffling noises of people coming into the room.

"Master Wallace, Miss Artemis," Alfred said as he placed down several trays of food, as did Barbara and Dick.

"Thanks, Alfred," they chorused, before the butler made his way out of the room.

"Uh, hey, so Babs and I figured we should just rest for the night and continue tomorrow. Is that alright with you two?" Dick gestured towards Superboy and Miss Martian, not wanting things to get too complex now that Wally and Artemis were there.

Of course he had heard the entire conversation that had taken place while he and Barbara were in the kitchen getting the food ready – he realized the two 'bodyguards' must be warming up to himself and Barbara a little too quickly if they were all communicating outside of the mind link, though he had to commend Conner and M'gann for working so well together despite their personal problems.

Dick stood up in order to show the two out of the manor.

"No, it's okay," Miss Martian said, "I know where I left my bi – my car," she said as she looked back at Wally and Artemis, both of whom she should _not_ be familiar with.

Dick nodded, but looked up to see Alfred standing at the doorway. Their eyes connected and Alfred knew to follow after the heroes, in case they wandered too far.

* * *

"_So_," Wally said before reaching out for a sandwich, "how long has _this_ been going on? Is it true you knocked up Barb?"

Barbara shook her head. "There is no _this_, Wally, and do I _look_ pregnant to you?" She casted a glower towards the speedster who knew well enough to shake his head at the question immediately. "This is getting more and more complicated than I thought…"

Everyone else nodded.

"So, we got the church today – what next?" Dick asked, though expected no one to answer. It was Barbara's voice that surprised him.

"Well we have to go to the jeweler's to see if there are any wedding bands being made, and the bakery – there's a quaint, little shop just a few blocks from my house that makes some of the best cakes and I _know_ they do weddings. They're quite known for them really, so we can try that place out first and if that doesn't work, I have a few more in mind," Barbara rambled. She bit her lip and looked up at the ceiling, as if recalling certain memories. "We should go to a few stores to see if we're registered for any –" She paused when she realized everyone was staring at her in disbelief. "What?"

Dick chuckled. "Didn't realize you were a bit of a wedding-fanatic, Babs," he said, and flinched when the redhead made an arm motion in attempt to punch him – she didn't, thankfully.

"I don't know _that_ much. Just as much as any other girl would know, right Artemis?" She turned to the archer.

Unfortunately, Artemis looked back at Barbara blankly and shrugged. "Sorry, Barbara but I always figured that if I ever got married, I'd get Ollie to pay for a wedding planner."

Dick laughed again, this time louder now that Barbara's face was flushed in embarrassment. "Oh, come on, Barbara. It's kind of cute that you've been planning your wedding since you were, what, six? Do you have your dream wedding dress picked out too?"

"Ten," Barbara corrected, "I've been planning this since I was ten, and _definitely_ not, Dick…" but her voice faltered.

Dick recognized this hesitation too well, and his grin grew. "Oh really? No dream dress for Babs?" he teased, and in the corner of his eye, noticed that both Wally and Artemis were intrigued by this revelation – this was just _too_ fun. Then, doing what Dick always did when he wanted Barbara to admit something, he leaned his face in closer, invading her personal space, which he knew she hated. He kept his sight focused on her and made sure she could feel his breath on her skin. It wasn't until their faces were inches away from each other when she pushed him away before he got too close, squirming at the awkwardness.

"Fine, I don't have _one_ dress picked out. I have several, but it's because I need to know what kind of wedding it is first to know what dress is appropriate," Barbara said, crossing her arms.

"What _kind_ of wedding?" Wally asked, somewhat confused. He turned to Artemis who didn't understand the situation either. "Isn't there just _the_ one? You know, white dress, church, everybody cheering in the end, and food for the guests?"

Barbara rolled her eyes. "There can be themes, guys. Different types of venues, whether it's an indoor or outdoor wedding, the religious ceremonies involved, which season it is…" She stopped her voice and shook her head. "Never mind, it's complicated. I'll teach you guys when you two get married."

She smirked when she saw the two former-heroes in front of her flush in embarrassment.

"Ah-hem," Wally cleared his throat, hoping his blush had faded, "So what's the deal with you two then? How did the team get involved?"

And so Dick and Barbara explained the entire situation. It wasn't until late in the night when Alfred had finished putting away all the dishes that he came back into the room.

"I have prepared the guest bedrooms for Mister Wallace and Miss Artemis – I'm assuming you two will be sleeping in _separate_ bedrooms?" Alfred asked with a stern voice, and his eye contact with them made them confirm his decision without hesitation. The butler turned to Barbara. "Unfortunately, the paparazzi have not budged from their location outside the gates of the manor. I'm afraid that driving away from the manor and to your home will take quite some time, and leaving the _alternative_ way might be too risky. If it is alright with you, Miss Barbara, I have your room already prepared."

"Okay, thanks, Alfred. I'll just go call my dad to tell him that," Barbara said before walking away.

Wally and Artemis watched her walk off, before turning their attention to Dick.

"Dude, are you okay?" Wally asked, noticing Dick's stressed out state.

The younger man shrugged. "Just a lot to do, Wally. Still got some files from the company to look at later and the team to –" Suddenly, Dick felt his phone vibrate. Pulling it out, he saw that it was a text from Tim.

_Turn on the TV; channel 10. Team's pretty appalled. _

– _T._

_P.S. Good luck._

Confused, Dick hadn't bothered to finish explaining about his work to his friends. Rather, he stepped over towards Artemis' seat and picked up the remote control in front of her. He turned on the large television.

" – _were spotted today entering the chapel…"_

Dick sat back down, remote still in hand as he waited for the news that the team seemed to be displeased about. Artemis and Wally seemed to have focused their attention towards the screen as well, though nothing presented was new to them until after Barbara came back into the room.

" – _Grayson was photographed with _this_ baby. While some claim that this redheaded infant is a product of Richard Grayson's and Barbara Gordon's secretive, yet sensual, relationship, others believe that it may be Grayson's lovechild with another woman…"_

And that was when Dick began choking on air and Barbara could already hear Roy's fatherly instincts begin to terrorize its way to Gotham.

* * *

**A/N:** Midterms, guys. That's my only excuse for the lack of updates. _But_, reviews are always encouraging me to skip studying. (Remember,** more reviews = faster updates**)

So far, the clues are that the suspect is close to the Bat-clan, and/or the YJ team; they _know_ where the YJ team are situated, and it's a woman with no distinguishable accent. Any ideas who it may be? I know some of you thought Wally, who clearly isn't a woman, but you never know... the person behind all this might have a _partner_. -wink wink-_  
_

No, it's not Artemis. At least, in my mindset, it's not her. I'm still going through the planning, guys. :P

**Also**, for all you Dick and Babs shippers out there (yes, that means you), I wrote a story over the summer that's incredibly long...like, if your teacher tells you to write a 39-page essay long. And although I think it would work better as one single chapter, you (the readers) may not agree and would want it split into several chapters. Or, you would rather it be posted all at once because you don't like waiting for updates. So I have a **poll** on my profile. _You_ get to choose, and I will upload the story once I'm confidant with what I've edited (the problem with a 39 page story is it takes a while to edit..and I like editing my stories more than twice.)


	5. Chapter 5

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own YJ & I don't own this plot. The plot is originally from **GraysonsGirl **and her Teen Titan's story "Drive By Media". I have asked for permission to use the plot for my own Young Justice story.  
**Words**: 2,800+  
**Notes**: Thanks so much for the reviews guys! I really appreciate it! :)

**X-X-X-**

" – _Grayson was photographed with _this_ baby. While some claim that this redheaded infant is a product of Richard Grayson's and Barbara Gordon's secretive, yet sensual, relationship, others believe that it may be Grayson's lovechild with another woman…"_

_And that was when Dick began choking on air and Barbara could already hear Roy's fatherly instincts begin to terrorize its way to Gotham._

"Oh God," Dick muttered. "Roy is going to kill me now that Lian's on the news!"

"Dick, couldn't you have been more careful? That's my niece!" Artemis frowned.

He turned to the blond. "Sorry, Artemis. I don't even know who took that photo and how the public got a hold of it," he said, running his fingers through his hair. "Look, I'll go make a few phone calls right now and make sure they take it off. You guys get some rest…"

Wally got up from his seat and placed a hand on Dick's shoulder; there was worry in his eyes. However, Dick merely shrugged. "It's fine, Wally," he said before stepping out of the room.

With that, both Wally and Artemis watched as Dick solemnly walked away to his study, both disheartened at the sight of their best friend looking and feeling so glum due to all of the stress. Nevertheless, they decided to head to their individual bedrooms – Alfred was pretty adamant about them staying in separate rooms.

However, Barbara followed after Dick. She sat down onto an office chair next to his, silently waiting for his conversation with the entertainment companies to be over. It took almost half an hour for him to convince that the baby girl in the photo was a friend's child that he was watching over, and not his own. No doubt this phone conversation would be revealed to the public tomorrow morning, as it was the first thing Richard Grayson ever said since the scandal broke out.

When Dick hung up, he leaned back in his chair and placed both of his hands onto his face. "What am I going to do, Babs?" He asked; his voice was muffled behind both hands.

Barbara blinked several times, unsure of the answer herself. But before the silence could go on for too long, she replied, "Let's just deal with Bruce's company first. I'll help you look over the legal documents. Then we can focus on the wedding stuff later."

A bright, blue eye peeked through the gap between his fingers, and Barbara saw his cheekbones rise.

"You'd do that? _For me_?" Dick asked, and finally revealing his face and grabbing onto the stack of folders on the nearby desk.

Barbara gave a shrug, but then crafted a sly smile. "Of course…I have a reputation too, Dick, and I wouldn't want the public to think that I'm abusive if they found my _future husband _collapsed on the streets from working too hard."

The man in front of her chuckled and gave her half of the pile of papers. He looked back down to the files in his hands, briefly skimming over the new reports from the company, but it wasn't long before he looked back up again. He watched as Barbara was concentrated deeply into the documents in her own hands; her lips moved along to the words she had read and occasionally, she had to push up her reading glasses to rub her tired eyes.

"You should go to bed, Babs," Dick said. "Go dream about your fairy tale wedding or something. I can finish these."

The redhead smirked. "If I'm not here then who knows what you'll be doing, Dick? It certainly won't be work. Besides, you've been up longer than I have; _you _should go to bed."

"Nah, I think Wally got the room next to mine; I won't be able to sleep with his snoring."

Barbara laughed. "Hey, do you think he's snuck over to Artemis' room by now?"

"Who knows? After what happened last time when Alfred caught Wally sneaking out, I doubt it…"

"Oh Alfred…I wonder what's going to happen when _you_ start bringing girls home. He's going to scare them all away with his 'no sharing room' rules. You'll have to be as old as Bruce before he's any more lenient."

"Why would Alfred scare them away when I have _you_ to do that?" Dick said, sticking out his tongue. He earned a playful slap on his shoulder.

"Right, like I won't have any Bats spying on my dates."

This continued on throughout the night as the pair half bantered, half did their work with both having the same thing on their minds: with a friendship like theirs, why give it up and be a couple?

* * *

"Look at that, guys! Isn't that adorable?" Cassie squealed as she pointed towards the large television screen.

Everyone looked up and was in awe – Robin, however, frowned at the sight.

"_This shot was taken late at night by the paparazzi, who although waited patiently all day outside the gates of Wayne Manor, did not seem to be so patient at 2AM last night, when one of their photographers had climbed up a tree just on the outskirts of Wayne manor property, and got this zoomed in shot through a window. The photo shows Richard Grayson and Barbara Gordon, who have fallen asleep, side by side, after a hard day's work at the desk. Can we say _cutest_ couple of the year?"_

Robin sighed at the screen. It wasn't actually that interesting, seeing as he'd been seeing that image for months every time he went down to the Bat Cave and caught the two sleeping on their jobs. But now knowing that the paparazzi were doing whatever it took to get photos and statements from _the cutest couple_ in America, he had a feeling Alfred was up in those trees right now with some barbed wire – and possibly replacing every upstairs window with one-way glass.

"_No words yet on whether the photographer will be charged for trespassing Wayne property, but – What? What's this? Ladies and gentlemen, Richard Grayson, himself has just called in! Please stand by and we will play the message after this break."_

The team at the mountain began to cry out in excitement, suddenly intrigued by what the celebrity had to say. The commercial break seemed longer than usual, which got on their nerves, especially Cassie and Karen – they really wanted to know what the celebrity was going to say – and Robin, who wasn't informed of the plans by either Dick or Barbara.

This ticked Robin somewhat. He was used to getting the information he wanted and needed whenever he desired, and was then taught by both Bruce and Dick that digging a little deeper for more wouldn't be harmful. But for this mission specifically, he seemed to only be a bit more informed than the rest of the team, but still partially out of the loop.

"_And we're back–"_

Robin averted his attention towards the screen, and watched as the host re-explained about Dick Grayson's message again. The young hero pressed his lips together, anxious about what was to come. Dick wasn't usually one for spotlight (unless they were show lights or smaller crowds); that was often Bruce's job, even when the scandals involved Dick.

" –_with this message…"_

"_Uh, hi. This is Richard Grayson,"_ Dick's voice came from the image on the screen. _"I'd just like to ask the public to please give both the Gordon family and my family our privacy. We understand that you all have jobs, but taking extreme measures is dangerous for everyone and we wouldn't want anyone to get hurt, physically or emotionally. We also request that the public not buy into all of the rumours; we have our own lives and how we run them is not public property to be twisted into false reports. I –"_

"_Mr. Grayson, would you like to touch on the subject of your marriage? It's common knowledge that it's not a rumour, and that it's confirmed, but I'm sure the public –"_ The host's voice was cut off by Dick.

"_I believe that when you're in love, it's the best feeling in the world,"_ Dick explained, seeming to have known from experience (Robin knew he was just using the same load of garbage Bruce used in his interviews, seeing as Dick's previous relationships have never ended well). _"But invading into one's privacy, especially when they're in love, can be disastrous."_

"Heavy on the dis…" Robin muttered, mimicking the same words Dick had taught him when they were younger. He had a feeling Dick was doing everything in his power to not say that over the phone.

"_Love is fragile and we wouldn't want it to be broken so easily, now would we? So I'm not going to talk about my marriage with anyone or anyone's marriage in general for now. Again, I hope you guys would consider giving us our privacy. Thank you."_ And with that, Dick hung up the phone.

The team began chattering excitedly, somehow luring even Raquel and Zatanna into the conversation. As for Robin, he finally managed to let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding. Leave it to Dick to give a public statement that neither confirmed nor denied his engagement. It must be a Bat thing to do because he's sure Bruce had done that before as well.

But then the young teen looked up to see Conner staring back at him suspiciously; he shrugged it off and pretended not to notice. He hoped that the clone didn't think too much of it – after all, Robin was just another Gotham hero who knew almost as much as Nightwing and Batgirl.

* * *

"Nice one," Wally commented as Dick propped himself onto the couch, exhaling exaggeratedly. The TV screen was on in front of all of them – they had heard everything Dick had told the entertainment network. "I'll never know how you do it, man."

With his face buried into his hands, Dick rubbed both of his eyes from exhaustion. His mind wandered off to who was winning, him or Barbara, in terms of who had the most coffee that day. Then: "Let's hope you never have to, Wally." After, Dick uncovered his face and revealed a grin. "But you have to admit, I was _good_ right? As good as Bruce with his scandals?"

Barbara laughed at this. "Not yet, Boy Wonder. Maybe with a few more rumours, but just make sure to leave me out of them." She stuck her tongue out at him.

Dick chuckled. "I'm pretty sure your dad's gun wouldn't be in his holster anymore if you were involved in another one, Babs." He leaned back on the sofa and turned to his guests. He was about to speak when Alfred called out his name.

"Master Richard!"

"Yeah? Coming!" Dick yelled back and got up. However, he kept his sights on Artemis and Wally and spoke as he made his away across the living room slowly. "So considering we can't do much around here – unless you're willing to carry all of us and super-speed us out of here, Walls – is there anything you guys wanted to do?"

"_Super-speed_?" Said a voice.

"What is going on?" A deeper voice this time.

Everyone turned to see both Superboy and Miss Martian standing next to Alfred.

"Ah-hem, you have _guests_, sir," Alfred said and walked off, leaving Dick with his explanations.

Both Superboy and Miss Martian looked at Dick and Barbara skeptically as Wally and Artemis shrunk back into their spots on the couch – they knew the Bats could handle themselves without their help.

"How did you know about Wally's powers? We're not supposed to…"Miss Martian began to speak, her eyebrows furrowing in question.

"Unless you're…" Conner began to theorize.

"I guess we have to come clean, Babs," Dick said with a sigh. He turned to the redhead who had just gotten off of the couch.

"You're right, Dick." She turned to face the fake security guards. "You see…We _know_ about Wally's and Artemis' night job."

"It's not like they told us," Dick interrupted, "we just kinda found out." He turned to Barbara, and then said: "It was two years ago, right?"

Barbara shook her head. "Three years ago, Dick. Remember you got grounded for over a month after that?"

"Oh right," Dick nodded, "I drove Bruce's Lamborghini to school that day."

"Scariest car ride of my life," Barbara muttered under her breath. She cleared her throat. "Anyway, we were at the academy when we heard the alarm. And at our school, hearing the alarm means that it's most likely a hostage attack, rather than a fire."

"Our class was being held hostage by armed men, when suddenly Artemis came in her gear and shot them down with her arrows, and Kid Flash showed up right after –he had rushed all the way from Central cause he heard his girlfriend's school was being attacked; kind of a worrywart."

"Dude!" Wally exclaimed. "Not cool. I had the day off from school and I was _just_ passing by," Wally lied, but knew that his input would just back up the other couple's explanation to Conner and M'gann.

Barbara ignored Wally's outburst. "Those two cleaned up the mess pretty quickly, even before Batman arrived at the scene –"

"But _someone_," Dick said, gesturing towards Barbara, "decided to follow the heroes. You know, cause she has a huge crush on Kid Flash – don't know why, I mean, aren't Nightwing and Batman better?"

"Dick! I did _not_ have a crush on Kid Flash – no offense Wally," Barbara argued. "And I just wanted to make sure they were okay."

Miss Martian and Superboy still seemed somewhat doubtful of the story, but continued to listen.

"Of course I had to follow Babs, cause I wasn't sure if the bad guys were still out there or not," Dick explained. "And that's when we see Kid Flash and Artemis making out in the hallway –"

"We were _not_ making out in the hallway, Dick," Artemis suddenly spoke up, offended that he would accuse her of doing something as unprofessional as that during a mission. She instantly regretted it, because unlike her fellow heroes, she wasn't as great of a liar. But when Miss Martian and Superboy turned to her, she knew she had to continue. "They just…caught us taking off our masks. That's all. We were all pretty close friends anyway, I mean, I _did_ introduce Wally to Dick and Barbara, so we trusted them with our secrets."

"And that's how we found out their secret identities. We never really talked about it again, and when Wally introduced himself to you two yesterday, I didn't think you guys knew one another," Dick fibbed. Then, flashing his teeth once more, he scratched the back of his head. "So…I guess we're all on the same page now."

Superboy and Miss Martian gave each other a glance before turning to Dick and Barbara. They nodded, accepting the duo's explanation.

"Alright, now that that's cleared up," Wally said, getting up, "I think we should leave – don't wanna bother you guys too much with your work. And dude," he turned to Dick, "good luck."

Dick nodded. "Thanks, guys. Alfred'll show you out to the back door and you can run out from there – the paparazzi have been dispersed lately, and shouldn't be able to catch you."

With a wave of goodbyes, Artemis and Wally left the manor. It wasn't soon after before Barbara spoke up.

"Oh, right, I found a few places that I thought we should look at today," she said, and excused herself to go find the papers that she printed out earlier that morning.

With Dick left in the room along with the other two superheroes, he casually shrugged and opted to sit down and wait for his friend. However, looking up at Miss Martian and Superboy's facial features, he _knew_ that they were conversing through their mind link. His lips curled into a small frown, and his face darkened slightly. He had a feeling he knew what they were talking about.

* * *

"_Do you believe them, Conner?"_

"_Why shouldn't we, M'gann? Even Wally and Artemis said that it was an accident that Dick and Barbara found out about their secret identity. They wouldn't lie to us…"_

"_Yeah but…I just find it odd. During the entire conversation, I tried reading their minds, but Dick kept reciting math equations and Barbara was listing former U.S. Presidents as if they knew I would try to do that and have had practice blocking a telepath before. And there's something about the way they talk..."_

"_You mean it sounds like we've heard them before? I know what you're talking about. Whenever they argue, it just sounds like…"_

"_Like what, Conner?"_

"_I think it sounds like Nightwing and Batgirl."_

The shocked expression on Miss Martian's face only confirmed Dick's theory: they knew.

* * *

**A/N:** Gasp! Miss M and Superboy found out Nightwing's and Batgirl's secret identities! They'll be bat-grounded once Batman finds out! Oh, the horrors! :P

No, not really. Those two just suspect that Nightwing and Batgirl are related to Dick and Barbara, but nothing's confirmed yet.

Anyway please review (the more reviews, the faster the update, guys! I know that didn't really apply to last month, but I had midterms, so I couldn't even if I wanted to, but now I'm free, so keep them coming!)


	6. Chapter 6

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own YJ & I don't own this plot. The plot is originally from** GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titan's story "Drive By Media". I have asked for permission to use the plot for my own Young Justice story.  
**Words**: 2,600+  
**Notes**: I told you guys that the more reviews, the quicker the update ;)

**X-X-X-**

_The shocked expression on Miss Martian's face only confirmed Dick's theory: they knew._

"There's the jeweller's," Superboy had pointed out, hands reaching into his pocket to retrieve the shades that would hide his face. The car came to a stop, and once again, was heavily crowded by the paparazzi.

Although the press had shied away from trespassing Wayne property since Dick's phone call went public – or it had something to do with the multiple alarm systems that Alfred began setting up – the paparazzi were still quite vicious outside the grounds of their homes.

In an orderly fashion, Superboy stepped out of the car, pushing the photographers back and allowed some space for Dick and Barbara to step out. Once again, Dick had his arm slung over Barbara's shoulder to guide her into the store with him, with another arm extended outwards to block their faces from being photographed. Barbara kept her face down and watched the pavement the entire time, only following Dick's feet. Behind her was Miss Martian, preventing the paparazzi from following the couple.

After Superboy had given the man the agreement of confidentiality forms, he stepped back and watched as Dick and Barbara interacted with him.

"Mr. Grayson, Ms. Gordon," the man named Frank greeted, voice hitting an octave higher than it should have been at the sight of the pair. He wore a button up, white collared shirt, though Barbara could tell it was bought new just for the occasion of meeting them; the blue tie around his neck seemed a bit too tight. The plump man made his way behind the glass counters and bent down to retrieve small, dual boxes. "Your rings are ready, designed as you requested."

But Dick held a hand up before Frank could open either case. "About that, Frank, Barbara and I were just wondering… if we could have the name of the person who called you in our place," Dick asked. "You see, there were so many things going on at once, I had to have some workers at the company do these small errands for me, and there was a large mix up in the whole process." Giving a grin, Dick scratched the back of his head. "We're all trying to sort this out, starting with who called and gave the order and ring sizes…"

Frank looked straight at Dick, blinking several times before clearing his throat. "I believe, Mr. Grayson…that it was _you_ who called me."

The smile on Dick's face dropped. "What?"

"I recognize your voice anywhere – it was most obviously you," the man repeated. "You did tell me that you didn't trust anyone with a job as important as this – why, I'm pretty sure our phone conversation lasted an hour. No offense, Mr. Grayson, but you were quite chatty. We had only spoken about the rings for about twenty minutes before you began chatting away about something else entirely different."

Barbara gave a small laugh. "Sounds like him," she muttered loud enough for Dick to hear her; she recalled all the times Dick had gone off topic during their conversations. But then her eyes narrowed towards the cases placed on the glass counter, beneath the jeweler's hands. There was a brief moment where no one had spoken, and Barbara knew that if M'gann hadn't offered to speak up, then that meant the man was telling the truth.

It wasn't until Frank, lifting up his spectacles nervously, cleared his throat that Dick decided to speak up.

"Oh, did that happen?" Then: "I guess I've been working myself so hard lately, I don't even remember that night." He gave a smile and continued to play the part. "So I guess we're all done here?"

"O-Oh, no, Mr. Grayson. Not yet! I advise you to try on the rings first to make sure they're a perfect fit!" Frank hollered. He motioned the jewelry box towards Dick and Barbara. "You have no idea how many brides and grooms struggle to put the ring on during their ceremony. I wouldn't want the same thing to happen to you two."

The pair nodded.

"Right. Let's try them on then." Dick wasted no time in opening the boxes, revealing twin silver bands.

It was Barbara who remained quiet though, studying the pieces of jewelry in front of her. It was a simple ring, with no flashy diamonds or anything. When Dick took the smaller ring out, she could see a sideways figure eight engraved on the inside, signifying the symbol of infinity – it was identical to how she envisioned her wedding ring to be.

"Babs?"

She looked up in surprise. "Huh?"

Dick tipped his head over to the side. "The rings?"

"Oh, right." Pulling the larger ring from its navy blue case, Barbara took Dick's left hand and slid it onto his fourth finger. She looked up, and was met with bright blue eyes that looked straight at her, then down at her hands. She watched as he slid the silver band onto her hand as well. They stayed facing one another.

Barbara remained still for several moments, slowly adjusting to the feeling of a ring on her naked finger, with the cold metal against her skin. It wasn't until Miss Martian's smile in her peripheral that she realized hers and Dick's fingers were still intertwined with one another.

She smiled at the thought of how many things must've been running through Miss Martian's head at that moment, but let go of Dick's hand; he wasn't even fazed by her sudden action.

"Well?" Frank asked, with a grin on his face.

"It fits," Barbara casually said, and turned to Dick. "I like the design you chose, Dick…It's basically what I've always wanted in a wedding ring," she spoke with a smile, but knew Dick had understood her right away: the suspect knew a lot more about them than they originally thought, considering Barbara's wedding plans were from her childhood.

Dick nodded. "Glad you like them, Babs." Then he turned to the jeweler. "So I guess we should discuss prices? I was actually hoping you'd hold onto them for a bit longer – you see, we're not sure…"

With a sigh, Barbara began to walk to the end of the store, catching a glimpse of the paparazzi that were still waiting outside of the glass window. She groaned and began to dread their next trip.

* * *

"Yeah, dad, I'm fine… Mhm, I'll be home tonight," Barbara spoke on her phone as Alfred drove them to their next destination across the sea of paparazzi: the bakery.

When they arrived, Barbara signaled for both Superboy and Dick to go in first, whereas she and Miss Martian lagged behind until Commissioner Gordon had hung up. Barbara began to prep herself before she got out of the car when she was stopped by Miss Martian.

"Is something wrong, Barbara?" Miss Martian asked. She dipped her head down so that her sunglasses would fall from the bridge of her nose – their eyes made contact, and it was clear to Barbara that the Martian was concerned with her.

Barbara looked back down to her ring finger again, using her other hand to graze along its nakedness. "It's nothing, Megan… Let's just get inside before Dick eats all the cake samples."

"Are you sure? You looked really down at the jewelry store."

Barbara shook her head at the ridiculousness of her thoughts. "It's just something stupid…" Barbara began, but looked up, only to see Miss Martian's worried face. In fact, it was the face M'gann gave Batgirl whenever a mission went wrong.

Suddenly, Barbara was overcome with the need to talk to one of her – Batgirl's – best friends.

"Barbara?"

Finally with a sigh and a soft voice, she said, "I just realized that this is everything I've ever wanted in a wedding…and I'm not even marrying a guy I love."

* * *

"I'm finally _free_!" Nightwing breathed out, stretching his arms as if they were a pair of wings from a caged bird, and then diving from the roof of Wayne Enterprises. He released the grappling hook and proceeded to swing pass several buildings before landing next to a statue of a gargoyle atop of an old building. With a crouched stance, one hand holding onto the ledge between his legs, and the other hand stretched out back, Nightwing looked down at Gotham's city lights.

It wasn't too long before a ringing noise began to blare through the streets and Nightwing chased after the sound. He soon caught a glimpse of the person running away from the jewelry store; donned in black, holding onto a bag in one hand, they continued to run.

When he leapt from the roof and onto the ground, Nightwing chased the robber by foot. What surprised him was that the robber managed to grab hold of the fire escape and quickly made their way up onto the roof – much faster than the average criminal.

He used his grappling hook and managed to get onto the roof before they did, and waited for their arrival.

"Urgh," the woman spat in what sounded like disgust. "_You_?"

Behind his mask, Nightwing widened his eyes. "Selina? What are you…"

With one hand placed on her hips, Catwoman tossed the bag of jewels aside. She frowned. "Where's Batman? I wasn't looking for you, Kitten," she said and stepped over to Nightwing – she was almost shocked when she realized the little boy that interfered with hers and Bruce's nighttime _activities_ was now taller than her.

Nightwing sighed. Of course Selina Kyle would rob a jewelry store to get Batman's attention. Looking down at her, he said, "He's away. And he will be for a while, so stay away from banks and jewelry stores for the time being, please. I'm sure Batman will be more than happy to see you with a bag of diamonds when he comes back." Nightwing began to yawn, now regretting letting Tim and Barbara to have the night off; it just meant more work for him.

The younger hero picked up the bag of jewels from the side, knowing that Selina wouldn't want them now that there's no Batman chasing after her. At least, that's what Nightwing assumed after all those years of working with the Dark Knight. But before he could leap off of the roof to return the stolen goods, he felt someone lightly claw onto his shoulder.

"Yes, Catwoman?" He asked, turning around to face the sly grin on the woman's face.

"I'm still waiting you know."

Nightwing furrowed his eyebrows. "Waiting for what?"

She faked a gasp and leaned in closer. "My invite, of course. You know, I thought that with our _history_, I'd at least be invited to the reception," she purred, and held a finger under Nightwing's chin, tipping it upwards. "Or even be invited as the _mother_ of the groom."

Nightwing stumbled away from Catwoman. He cleared his throat before saying, "I'm not actually getting married, Catwoman. It's a hoax."

Catwoman frowned, though Nightwing wasn't sure if it was because he backed away from her or because of the news.

Her feminine laugh was heard and once again, she stepped closer to him. "Such a shame…I really thought you and that redhead suited each other. Oh well…" Suddenly she pounced onto the ledge and the bright lights of the moon shone off of the pearl necklace in her hands – Dick hoped it was the only thing she managed to retrieve when he wasn't paying attention (at least she hadn't tried to take the rest of the jewels in his possession). Before she leapt away, she said, "Just make sure I get the salmon and not the steak, when it _really_ happens."

* * *

_I'm telling you, it's Nightwing and Batgirl_, Conner argued in his mind as he and M'gann made their way to the back of the manor where the Bioship was hidden. He was following behind Dick and Barbara who seemed to pay no attention to their bodyguards in the back, but argued with one another instead. _They even sound like them_, he added.

_You do have a point,_ M'gann began, _but wouldn't Dick be really busy? I don't think he'd have enough time to be Nightwing._ _Plus, that would make _Bruce Wayne_ Batman…And I don't think someone like him can be a hero, no offense to him._

Conner frowned. _But you can't read their minds either, can you? Only the Bats can block off their mind like that._

The Martian looked over to her ex, and then thought for a moment. _Actually…there's something I've always noticed whenever Karen, Cassie and I watch TV, but I'm not sure…_

_What?_

Suddenly, Miss Martian spoke up: "Um, Dick?"

The younger man turned around with a grin on his face. "Yes, Miss M?"

M'gann smiled shyly. "The others at the mountain are really big fan of yours…" Barbara gave an eye roll, and everyone else pretended not to notice. "We were wondering if we could get…an autograph?" Her face suddenly felt hotter than usual, and M'gann finally realized how embarrassing it was to have asked him that.

However, Dick just gave a chuckle and nodded. "I'm flattered. Let me go get something to sign for them –"

"Oh, I have some pen and paper here!" Miss Martian squeaked and levitated them towards Dick.

The man caught it with his one hand, quickly signing it and preceded to hand the photo over to the older girl.

"Thank you!" Miss Martian said with glee and soon after, she and Superboy had left Gotham.

"What was that?" Conner asked the moment they sat in the ship.

M'gann smiled. "Dick signed it with his left hand – I've always noticed him use his left hand on TV. Nightwing's right handed. So they're not the same person after all!"

"I don't know… I still think they're the same person," Conner replied, brows furrowed.

"We might as well leave it alone though, Conner… Nightwing and Batgirl wouldn't want us knowing their identities anyway."

Conner frowned, still slightly bothered by how well the clues seemed to have fit in his head, but had to agree with M'gann on the latter part. "Right."

* * *

"Do you think being ambidextrous will keep M'gann away from our minds now, Nightwing?" Batgirl asked as she walked towards the zeta beam.

Nightwing shrugged, punching in the security codes to open the portal to the mountain. "For now, but we'll probably have to think of something else. Conner doesn't seem convinced that Dick's not Nightwing. I'm worried he'll take on Lois's rule on breaking rules and digging for answers."

Batgirl snorted. "That's yours and Batman's rule, Wing. Not just Lois's."

Nightwing grinned, but before either of them could step into the portal, he placed a hand onto the girl's shoulder. "Hey, how are you handling all this? You looked a little stressed the other day at the jeweller's."

The redhead shrugged and looked at her partner confidently before replying. "I'm alright," she said before disappearing to Mount Justice; Nightwing followed after. They continued walking towards the training room when Nightwing spoke again.

"Are you sure? You know you can talk to m –"

He was cut off when Batgirl stopped her tracks. Looking up to where Batgirl had focused her sight, Nightwing (much to his amusement) saw what the team had done to one of the walls: in front of them was an enlarged, framed photo of Dick Grayson himself with pen scribbled words.

_To the team, thanks for saving our butts! – Dick Grayson_

Nightwing laughed. At least the team wasn't fighting over it…hopefully.

* * *

**A/N**: So Conner still thinks Nightwing is Dick and that Batgirl is Barbara, and the team hasn't done much since _the_ Richard Grayson started appearing on TV more often. Not only that, but we have a copy boy who's faxing random stuff to the cave, Lex Luthor is invited to the wedding, a woman who called the church in place of Dick and Barbara, it was _Dick_ who called the jeweller's without him realizing it, and the person doing all this _knows_ what Barbara's ideal wedding is like. Any clues on who the mastermind is?


	7. Chapter 7

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own YJ & I don't own this plot. The plot is originally from** GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titan's story "Drive By Media". I have asked for permission to use the plot for my own Young Justice story.  
**Words**: 1,600+  
**Notes**: Oh gosh, you guys are amazing! I loved each and every one of your reviews and we passed 100 reviews! Wow! I hope you guys continue to support me! :)

**X-X-X-**

_Nightwing laughed. At least the team wasn't fighting over it…hopefully._

Both Nightwing and Batgirl made their way towards the living room where the rest of the team were found sprawled all over the couches and floor, staring at the television screen in a daze; they hadn't even noticed their teammates' arrival until Nightwing cleared his throat. Everyone jumped in surprise and turned their heads.

With crossed arms, and feigning a look of disappointment, Nightwing shook his head. "Alright guys, time for training."

"But they're in the middle of –"

"I'm sure there will be reruns of," Nightwing paused, looking up at the screen, "_The Daily Life of Richard Grayson_ later on… Let's go! You've been slacking off a lot lately while I've been away, and I don't want to have to explain to the League why half of you all are in the hospital when they come back."

* * *

Much to Nightwing's disappointment, several of the team members had forgotten what they had learned during their last training session due to the large break in between this and their previous one. It wasn't until after Wonder Girl had taken down Batgirl whilst tripping herself that he stopped the sparring match, and paired them all up. He recognized that the scandal was taking a bigger toll on them than he thought. _Especially_ _Batgirl_, he noted.

He would hate to think that the culprit started the scandal with the sole reason of tiring him and Barbara out – even the thought of them doing it just to distract the team was a bit of a stretch. But he also knew that he didn't want Batman to have to come back and help take care of things; Nightwing was confident enough in his own abilities, as well as Batgirl's, Robin's, and the help of their two bodyguards – things should be over by the time the League came back from their mission.

_I hope_, he gulped, and then said out loud, "Okay, everyone. Take a ten minute break. We're going to be working on your manoeuvers after this."

There was a collection of groans, and Nightwing shook his head in amusement. He recalled being quite excited when he was Robin, back when the original team was going to come up with a list of shortcuts to help strategize their attacks, but these few were different compared to the original team.

As everyone sat down to take a breather, or left the room to freshen up, Nightwing marched towards Robin.

"How's your research going?"

Robin gave Nightwing a look. "Which version do you want?"

Nightwing grinned. "Basic summary is good enough for now," he replied, knowing that the kid probably had enough information to fill an encyclopedia.

"I looked up the intern, David Fields, again. Still the same information as we got last time – intern, faxes whatever his bosses want, gets them coffee, etcetera," Robin explained, refusing to make eye contact with his teammates standing on the other side of the room – all of whom were staring back at him and Nightwing curiously. "Then I went further and looked up all of his bosses, and all of the employees who outrank him at the post office that could've gotten him to fax the letter. There were three with previous criminal offenses, two who have worked for W.I. at one time or another, and four others who've worked with rivals of W.I."

The older hero nodded, reminding himself to check out Wayne Industries' (W.I.) files later on when he went to work. He groaned at the thought.

"Something wrong, Nightwing?" Batgirl asked as she approached from behind.

He shook his head. "Just remembered I have a meeting to get to in a few hours." Turning around, he addressed to the rest of the team, "Alright, guys. Back to training!"

* * *

"Put on your tie, Dick."

"Yeah, yeah," he sighed, "You're not Alfred, Babs." He circled the lengthy material around his neck, twisting it into those familiar knots that Bruce – who failed – and Alfred – who succeeded in a matter of seconds – had taught him a number of years ago.

"Remember to watch your tongue in those meetings."

"You know you're not Bruce either."

She punched him lightly in the shoulder, receiving a laugh from the man. "Am I myself _now_?" She asked and smirked when he nodded.

Barbara wished her best friend luck before he got out of the car, swimming through the sea of paparazzi that circled around Wayne Industries. She let out a breath of relief the moment he entered the doors, and turned to face forward as Alfred drove her towards her own home.

Similarly, though with a small crowd, photographers were found camping just outside the front steps of her house. Although feeling a bit foreign without Dick's arm draped around her shoulders and his guidance into the house, Barbara finally made it into her home, promptly shutting the door with a loud bang.

The house was silent, and it wasn't until she had entered her kitchen that she was welcomed with a note on the table from her father.

_Barb, _

_There are gifts for you from all the entertainment companies and friends from school._

_Remember you're going to have to return these once the truth comes out, so don't give into temptation._

_Love, dad._

_P.S. If you _do_ give into it, be careful, or wait until I get home._

Looking to the side, her mouth fell open instantly at the sight of the plethora of prettily wrapped boxes, all building up in her living room and climbing along the couches.

In her peripheral, one distinct box captured her eye quicker than Dick could say "to the Batcave!" It was an _Augusta Jones_ box, a designer she adored just as much as _Vera Wang_ or _Pnina Tornai_; the sight left Barbara speechless. However, the moment she caught her arm reaching out for its laced ribbons, she withdrew it back and shut her eyes.

_I'm going to have to return this…I can't have it ruined,_ she thought before pushing herself towards her bedroom.

Since she had a few hours before she had to go to the library for her part time job, Barbara found herself opening a drawer and pulling out an old scrapbook – pieces of tissue paper and strands of ribbons peaked from the heavily bound book.

The last time she had really looked at the book, she was still in the tenth grade, just before becoming Batgirl. Still, there were many things from the book that were considered _in fashion_ and would make sense to be used now. She smiled to herself as she flipped through the pages, shaking her head every once in a while at how ridiculous she and her friends back then wanted their weddings to be like. Most of the cut out pictures of wedding dresses were out of date by now, though towards the end of the book, there were more modern photos in which she and her high school friend, Bette, had added to the collection.

There were two pages set on rings, and at the sight of the wedding rings she found online, with the infinity symbol engraved on the inside, Barbara frowned.

Suddenly, a thought came to mind. The redhead haphazardly started to flip through the scrapbook, thanking herself that she was as organized back then as she was now. Subjects were organized based on wedding themes and alphabetized categories. Finally, she landed on the most recent photo of a wedding dress: sweetheart neckline, A-line gown with an asymmetric waist. An _Augusta Jones_ dress.

With widened eyes, Barbara jumped from her seat and headed straight to her living room, scrapbook still in hand.

Quickly, she spotted the box, eye trailing along the intricate detailing of the ribbon of box itself, before slowly and hesitantly pulling them apart. When she opened the large box, her eyes sparkled at the sight.

It was the _same_ dress.

Barbara dashed for the Batcave.

* * *

"You really outdid yourself there, Babs," Dick said, a few hours after he had come back from Wayne Industries, with a raised brow at the sight of Barbara's scrapbook. He couldn't help but stare just at how _big_ the book was and how much _detail_ his best friend had put in.

The redhead rolled her eyes. "Would you focus? I'm telling you, everything that the culprit is doing is _based_ off of this book –the rings, the cake samples… I even got a wedding dress in the mail that was the _exact_ same one as the one in here! "She said as Dick flipped through the book.

"Like this dress?" He asked, showing her an old dress with ruffled sleeves and incredibly long train, clearly photographed _decades_ ago. "Gee, Babs, are you sure you don't want Bruce to hire you a wedding planner when you do get married in the future?"

Barbara sighed in annoyance. "Instead of making jokes, shouldn't you be, I don't know…checking for fingerprints? I have work in two hours and I'd like to know the results to keep me at peace."

Dick, with an amused grin still plastered on his face, nodded. "Right, I'll get to that," he said, but then added, "Say, how many months do you think it'll take if I read this from start to finish – ow! Hey, okay, I'll start with the DNA scan! Sheesh!"

* * *

**A/N**: For pictures of the wedding dress, Google image: _Augusta Jones sweetheart a-line gown in silk_ and it's the first or second image (it keeps switching on me; it's the model who's slightly crouching).

And I thought this quote was fitting:

"_This baby has got everything. Take, you know, locations, for instance. First, organized alphabetically; then geographically; then by square footage."_ –Monica Geller on her own wedding book (F.R.I.E.N.D.S.)

Also, because I think this is helpful for those who haven't read the past few chapters in a while, I will **summarize all the** **clues** at the end of each chapter:

First, someone managed to sneak into Dick's room back at the manor, steal his mother's engagement ring and send it to Barbara, meaning they know those two's identities. Next, it was faxed to Mount Justice, so they know about the team and their whereabouts. We have a copy boy, David Fields, working for some people who are related to Wayne Industries, and some who are rivals of Wayne Industries. It was 'Dick' (or someone who sounds like him) who called the jeweller's, and it was a woman with no distinguishable accent who called the Reverend at church. There's a _possibility_ that the person is doing this to distract the team. The person knows all of Barbara's wants in a wedding because they had _access_ to her wedding book.

Also, the invite list so far is: Lex Luthor, Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance. Not on the invite list is Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Batman's possible ex or possible current girlfriend. Unknown for now are: Wally, Artemis, the team.

Many of you guessed who's behind this last chapter, but another question is: _why_ would they do it?


	8. Chapter 8

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own YJ & I don't own this plot. The plot is originally from** GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titan's story "Drive By Media". I have asked for permission to use the plot for my own Young Justice story.  
**Words**: 2,100+  
**Notes**: Please read A/N at the end of chapter

**X-X-X-**

_Barbara sighed in annoyance. "Instead of making jokes, shouldn't you be, I don't know…checking for fingerprints? I have work in two hours and I'd like to know the results to keep me at peace."_

_Dick, with an amused grin still plastered on his face, nodded. "Right, I'll get to that," he said, but then added, "Say, how many months do you think it'll take if I read this from start to finish – ow! Hey, okay, I'll start with the DNA scan! Sheesh!"_

* * *

"So, tell us: what's it like working with _the_ Dick Grayson?"

M'gann smiled, looking up from her muffin-batter covered hands and towards Cassie who could barely contain herself on her seat and had flown up into the air. Karen sat at the table, seemingly amused though more controlled than the blonde.

"It's alright."

"Oh _come on_. You've been in and out of Gotham for the past week and a half and you're telling us that there's _nothing_ on him? Girl, you're keeping something," Karen scolded playfully.

The alien laughed. There wasn't much she could say, especially about his personal life – it would've been unprofessional, even if her friends could keep a secret (which she knew they would) from the media. As she mentally pulled three eggs over to the bowl in her grasp, M'gann decided to say something else that would excite her friends just as much as a scandalous opinion.

"Well," she started, "I really don't think the magazines airbrush _anything_ when they photograph him."

Cassie let out a dreamy sigh as Karen hummed an, "Mmm…"

Suddenly, the darker skinned girl looked at M'gann with peculiarity in her eye.

"Say, did you manage to take a peek at _Bruce Wayne_?"

* * *

"Well?"

Dick shook his head. "No results. Just yours and Bette's fingerprints – hey, do you think Bette's behind this?" He asked, handing the wedding scrapbook back to Barbara.

"I'm sure she has a personal vendetta against you, Dick, after you ruined her sweet sixteen," Barbara replied sarcastically.

"I was fourteen! How was I supposed to know her cat couldn't swim?" He joked before turning around on his seat and opening up a website. "Anyway, I've also looked up where the dress came from. Whoever's behind this had claimed to be a representative of mine again so that they could order that specific dress. The store manager is emailing us the details later."

Checking the box, which he had Barbara bring over right after work, he lifted the gown, unknowingly breaking Barbara's heart at the sight of her dream dress being handled so roughly. Dick, on the other hand, was honestly surprised at the weight.

"We'll probably have to do a search at your house too, later on, for any hidden cameras or trackers. I'm thinking they went into your closet considering they got your size right."

Barbara crossed her arms and raised a brow. "And how would _you_ know what my size is, Dick?" The only form fitting piece of the gown would have been the chest and bodice.

He cracked a flirtatious smile and waggled his brows. "Just a guess. If you want, I could double check–"

There was a loud groan just a few feet away from the pair, and they both turned to see an annoyed Tim Drake, sitting uncomfortably on his chair.

"If you don't mind, I'm _trying_ to do homework." He allowed them to mutter an apology before pressing onto the buttons of the computers whose screen changed into the camera footage. "M'gann and Conner are here, by the way," he added.

The adults nodded.

"We should probably go up to meet them," Dick said. "Are you good here, Tim? Just homework and…other things, right?" He ignored the skeptical look on Barbara's face nearby.

The kid nodded.

Approving of Tim's choice, the pair made their way up to the manor, just moments before Superboy and Miss Martian got out of the bioship.

* * *

"Hey guys!" Dick said enthusiastically. "We didn't know you were coming. Did something happen?"

Miss Martian nodded. "Nightwing had an idea and he thought it'd be best if we told you about it."

Barbara was genuinely confused, though when she turned to Dick, she could easily read his feigned look of curiousness. While mentally scolding him for not informing her, she turned to the pair of heroes and asked them what they were talking about.

"Well, we had gone back to the reverend with Dick the other day while you were at work, and I managed to get a hold of a specific memory of his while Dick was talking to him," Miss Martian explained.

"It was the memory of his conversation with the woman who called about yours and Dick's fake wedding," Superboy finished. "Miss Martian can go into a person's subconsciousness without them knowing, and find memories that even they might not remember."

Finally understanding, Barbara nodded, which signalled Dick to do the same.

"So what did you find out then?" Dick asked.

Miss Martian smiled. "Well, Nightwing can't really find the person in our databases, so we assume that they're using an alias. And I can't really transform into her physical appearance, but I _can_ change my vocal chords to match her voice. We're thinking that if you recognize it, we can find out who's behind this."

With that, the green girl took a step back, eyes glowing, becoming lighter and brighter shade until she smiled with confidence and repeated the woman's words. "Hello reverend," Miss Martian said in a lower tone of voice, yet feminine, "My name is Kylie Nails, and I'm a representative of Richard Grayson of Wayne Industries…"

She continued to speak, mimicking the voice of the stranger, adjusting its pitch every now and then. Unfortunately, neither Barbara nor Dick could recall who it was.

Superboy frowned. "We think that because the woman kept changing the tone of her voice throughout the conversation that she was probably altering her own voice. We had already assumed you two wouldn't know who it was, but had to make sure."

Dick grinned. "Understandable. Thanks for telling us t –"

He was interrupted by a ringing noise, though it wasn't from his own business phone. Rather, the alert came from both Miss Martian's and Superboy's communicator, to which the man offered to answer while Miss Martian smiled sweetly and continued to talk to Dick and Barbara about their future plans.

* * *

"Nightwing?" Superboy answered in astonishment. His eyes narrowed peculiarly towards the living room area where M'gann was conversing with Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon. He looked down at the video in front of him with Nightwing, in a dark alleyway, grinning at him.

"Hey, how are things on your end?" Nightwing asked. "Have you met up with Grayson yet?"

Superboy shook his head yes. "We're here right now."

On the other end of the screen, Superboy could see the younger hero nod approvingly. "Good, I'll catch up with you guys later at the cave then." The screen went blank.

Still glued in his spot, Superboy looked up from their communicator device and back up to the figure standing in the other room. With furrowed brows, he frowned.

_Dick Grayson was so similar to Nightwing though_, he thought before finally shaking it off and re-entering the room. _I guess M'gann was right._

* * *

"Your Nightwing costume is incredibly tight, do you know that?" Tim commented upon Dick's and Barbara's entrance to the Batcave.

"That's the point," Barbara said with a devilish grin followed by shifting eyes towards her partner's lower back.

Dick, on the other hand, knew of the redhead's actions and jut his hip out for her while Tim groaned in disgust again – today was _not_ his day. He usually didn't have to handle so much senseless flirting in one day. The others laughed and Dick began stepping towards the large chair that Tim was situated on; he leaned onto its back.

"Thanks for doing that again, bud," Dick said while ruffling the younger boy's perfectly gelled hair. "I didn't think Conner would be _that_ suspicious of our identities."

"He _does_ come from a family of reporters…and Lex Luthor. It's only natural, I guess," said Tim.

Barbara was next to speak: "Is that what you meant by 'homework and _other things'_ earlier? And what you two were up to last night while _I_ was patrolling Gotham?"

Dick nodded. "I was teaching Tim here how facial re-constructioning works and Bruce's handy voice amplifier. We connected it to the team's communicators and voila! Dick Grayson and Nightwing are two different people!"

"Great, now that we've accomplished that, tell me we've found something else."

"Well I had M'gann go through that speech earlier with me as Nightwing at the mountain and I _did_ run it through the system, but the voice wasn't recognized by the computers," Dick explained. "And there are fourteen women living in Gotham right now under the name Kylie Nails, none of which have any connections to the team, Wayne Industries, or any of our enemies," he paused, "They don't really seem to fit the age criteria either – they were really old or really young, so unless they're really good at changing their vocal cords…"

"Or that woman was using a fake ID," Barbara finished. She released a sigh as she placed herself down onto her chair.

"I did find something while you guys were gone, though," Tim said, peaking the other two's interest. Back on the computer, he opened up the original footage of the copy boy faxing the documents to Mount Justice.

"Didn't we replay that footage several times already?" asked Barbara.

Tim nodded, though he paused midway through the video and zoomed into the shot. "Look here," he said, pointing to the pile of papers that David Fields held in his arms; the young adult was seen in front of the fax machine. Tim clicked onto a button which allowed the video to play slowly while Dick and Barbara continued to watch intently.

There was another pause in the video and the zoomed in image shifted slightly.

"Between the first and the second second," Barbara noticed, "the pile grew…" She stepped towards the screen to take a closer look at the paper-thin increase of the pile.

"But no one was seen giving him any more papers to fax," Dick finished, smiling at the newfound clue. He patted Tim on the shoulder. "Great work there, Tim. You've really outdone yourself."

"Thanks, Dick," responded Tim who smiled and soaked in the compliment. "So I guess whoever's doing this is really good at computer imaging and reconfiguration."

With his finger on his chin, Dick remained focus on the screen. "But who do we know that's good at hacking?" he asked.

There was a brief moment of silence before Dick turned to see both Tim and Barbara stare at him incredulously before throwing both of his hands in the air.

"It wasn't me!"

* * *

"Say, Nightwing," Batgirl started, feet dangling from the Batsignal and glanced down to Nightwing below, sitting on the edge of the roof.

"Yeah?"

"Batman said that it would be a while before he would come back…It's one of his and the League's longer missions, after all…Shouldn't you be in the Batman uniform then?" She asked, looking out into the open and staring at the beautiful lights dotting the Gotham night skyline.

While she enjoyed the action, she personally was thrilled that the night had gone without a hitch so far, meaning the citizens were safe for now. But when the silence had gone on for too long, Batgirl shifted her sights and looked back down at Nightwing, still sitting and contemplating his answer.

"Nightwing?" She asked again.

Finally, the young adult let out a sigh and sat up straight. Leaning back, Batgirl could see the bright, blue wing of the bird on his chest.

"Technically, yeah, I _should_ be just so Gotham criminals don't get the idea that they're safe and he's retired…"

"But?"

There was a twitch in his lips before he placed both hands onto the ground and pushed his legs up into the air, as if a simple handstand would answer all of Batgirl's questions. Her eyes remained focused on him though and they watched as he hand-walked towards the signal; she jumped off of it and landed next to him.

Grinning, Nightwing did a flip back onto his own two feet and leaned his body against the signal. "Let me tell you a story," he began.

"This isn't a method to diverge my attention to something else, is it?"

He gave a chuckle, but his smile faltered. "Not really, no." Then, looking up at the bright moon in the sky, he said, "It's something I admitted to myself around four years ago when the team first started. We – the original team – had gone through a stimulation. And the results were…disastrous – heavy on the dis."

* * *

**A/N: Please read!** More Nightwing and Batgirl moments to come in future chapters. Speaking of future chapters, I'm announcing a _tiny_ hiatus, just until my finals are over. My last exam day is around the 20th, so updates should start again after in time for winter holidays!

ALSO: I'm switching the rating of this story from K+ to T...A lot of the jokes made in future chapters (and in the early chapters) are more suitable for a T rating anyway, though with what I have planned so far, T+ is as far as I'll go in terms of language and suggestive scenes - just normal scenes you'd find in a movie nowadays. I won't touch M though.

And now for my summary of clues:

**1**. Someone managed to sneak into Dick's room back at the manor, steal his mother's engagement ring and send it to Barbara, meaning they know those two's identities. **2**. Mount Justice got a fax, so they know about the team and their whereabouts. **3**. We have a copy boy, David Fields, working for some people who are related to Wayne Industries, and some who are rivals of Wayne Industries. **4**. It was 'Dick' (or someone who sounds like him) who called the jeweller's, and it was a woman with no distinguishable accent who called the Reverend at church, now confirmed as a character named _Kylie Nails_. **5**. There's a _possibility_ that the person is doing this to distract the team. **6**. The person knows all of Barbara's wants in a wedding because they had _access_ to her wedding book. **7.** The person behind this is an expert hacker.

Please review! I'd love to hear your guesses as to who's behind this.


	9. Chapter 9

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own YJ & I don't own this plot. The plot is originally from** GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titan's story "Drive By Media". I have asked for permission to use the plot for my own Young Justice story.  
**Words**: 1,800+  
**Notes**: Oh you guys are amazing! I love each and every one of you and you guys definitely cheered me up during my finals with all the _fabulous_ reviews you gave me! I enjoyed your predictions for the culprit behind this so much, and your eagerness for this chapter that I _had_ to upload it ASAP - that said, there _might_ be some errors here and there because I quickly uploaded it as soon as I was finished. **Also**, I introduced one character in this chapter that I'm not quite used to writing or reading about, so she will be **OOC**, unfortunately.

**X-X-X-**

_He gave a chuckle, but his smile faltered. "Not really, no." Then, looking up at the bright moon in the sky, he said, "It's something I admitted to myself around four years ago when the team first started. We – the original team – had gone through a stimulation. And the results were…disastrous – heavy on the dis."_

* * *

Dick furiously skimmed through the documents sent to him by both the church and the stores that he and Barbara were _registered_ to. Blue eyes darted back and forth, occasionally glancing to the side to see Robin and Batgirl solving algorithm after algorithm, connecting certain video footages to one another and attempting to trace back to its source.

_I hereby agree to terms and conditions set forth above_ –

Pushing his sight down onto the bottom of the documents copied onto the screen, he cracked a grin.

_Signed: __**Kylie Nales**_

"Oh, _Barbara_," Dick sang, and leaned back onto his chair. Both hands fell behind his head as he wheeled over towards her.

"Yes, Nightwing?" The redhead replied, eyes still fixated onto the bright screen in front of her and hands continuing to click away along the keys.

"What has one S, two E's, one K –"

Batgirl rolled her eyes and finally turned to face her partner. "Out with it."

The man in the black and blue suit smiled again and pushed his legs against the floor so that the office chair accelerated him back to his screen. "We spelled Kylie's last name wrong. It's not _Nails_, with an I, but with an E."

Batgirl held her position momentarily, just seconds before her lips parted slightly; she rushed to his screen, Robin trailing behind her to see what the older pair was up to. Both of their attentions were stolen by the highlighted name above, and each had an impressed look to their features; they all saw what Nightwing saw.

**KYLIENALES**

**SELINAKYLE**

"But why would –" Robin didn't get to finish as Nightwing had already propped himself up from his chair, eager to leave the cave. He sighed. "Bruce isn't going to be happy when he finds out we broke up with his girlfriend for him…"

Nightwing shrugged before pacing towards the exit. "Don't worry, bud. They're used to breaking up."

* * *

The woman ran her fingers through the fur of her cats as she walked pass by. A slight hum to her voice, she pulled open her closet doors dramatically, eyes trailing along her wardrobe with an unsatisfied look to her features.

The curtain of black hair hugging her face was neatly pulled into a bun, just moments before she began digging through her clothes, pulling aside outfits and sitting them onto her suitcase. She smirked at the sight of her rather large sunhat and bathing suits.

"Going somewhere?"

Selina's shoulders jumped upwards at the sound of the _annoyingly_ familiar voice, but she quickly regained posture. Turning her body, she could see Nightwing along with his supposed _non_-fiancée and their newest addition to dress up as a traffic light.

"Tsk, Nightwing, I thought I made it clear when you were a kid that only your _father_ could come into my room uninvited," she said.

"We know you're really Kylie Nales, Selina," Batgirl began, "We know you're the one behind this."

Feigning innocence, the woman continued to pack clothes into her luggage. "Well, we _must_ give a prize to Kitten's girlfriend here for figuring out what Bruce did almost a decade ago."

"Wait, what?" Robin asked, just as confused as his two partners.

Selina frowned, glancing at the clock in the corner of her eyes. She had wanted to be well rested for her flight, but _clearly_ some people just couldn't respect what time of the night it was. "Kylie Nales was one of my first aliases when Catwoman started out," she explained, "And if mister hacker over here had checked Bruce's database, I'm sure he would've found some rather _interesting_ files on her."

"Are you saying you haven't touched that alias in ten years?" Nightwing questioned. "That you _aren't_ the one trying to set Batgirl and I up to the press?" He frowned. Aside from the alias and mysterious woman pretending to his representative, there was no _actual_ evidence for Selina Kyle being the culprit. Her bank account hadn't been adjusted for quite some time, at least, not since her last get-together with Bruce in which her monetary assets inflated just as it did each time Catwoman's help was needed.

Selina let out a deep breath as she lifted the suitcase from her bed as well as her passport. "Well since you've wasted my catnap, I really _do_ have to call a cab and –"

"You're avoiding the question," Batgirl interrupted.

The older woman rolled her eyes. "I was getting there," she deadpanned and turned to Nightwing, "Honestly, maybe you could help her lose a bit of tension or something, kid."

The comment hadn't affected Nightwing and Batgirl as much as it bothered Robin, who flushed and produced a small scowl.

Selina let out a low chuckle, running her fingers through Robin's gelled hair much to his annoyance. "You know, I've always been the _fun aunt_ of Robins in the past – Batman makes relationships sound so _boring_. If you ever need any relationship advice, I'm sure we can strike out some sort of deal."

Robin backed away. "Look, we just want to know about the wedding."

Peeved, Selina pushed her way through the heroes so that she could place her pet cats into their cages. "Twenty grand," she said.

"What?" Batgirl asked, but before her or Selina could reply, Nightwing spoke.

"Ten."

Selina frowned. "_Eighteen_."

"_Twelve_," Nightwing replied with enunciation.

"Even fifteen is already ten less than what Bruce normally gives me," Selina pointed out.

Nightwing grinned. "But I'm not Bruce. And this is coming straight out of my account, which I should remind you, is a lot less than Bruce's. You're basically destroying a kid's chance at going to college, Selina. What if I can't get a good job? Who will be able to afford sending you into the old folk's home when you get senile and wrinkly?"

"Fifteen, Kitten. I'm not backing out any further."

"Deal," Nightwing finished and immediately began his questioning: "How are you involved with this scandal?"

The woman sat herself onto a chair, crossing her legs. "Who do you think stole your ring? Quite a beauty too – I should've kept it for myself." She smirked.

Nightwing frowned. "How do you know about the ring in my room and _why_ did you send it to Batgirl?"

"Don't you forget that I was there when you and your superhero B.F.F. decided to blow up the west wing with your chemical experiments," she said, earning questioning looks from both Batgirl and Robin. "And if that hadn't ruined my date with Bruce any more than it should have, your butler's summer vacation _did_ and I was forced to help clean up.

"Your ring just happened to be sitting there in a pile of goop when you screamed for Bruce to clean it up before the acid kicked in and ruined it."

"You haven't finished answering the question," Nightwing reminded.

Selina rolled her eyes. "Just like Bruce – impatient as always," she muttered under her breath. "Look, Kitten, I like you, and you better put in a good word for me when Batman comes back from wherever the hell he is, so I'll tell you what I know."

Robin, along with Batgirl and Nightwing, waited for her to continue, though with a glance at Nightwing's direction, the young boy reached for the button on his wrist computer; he needed to record the conversation.

"There's a rich somebody out there who thinks he's all that," Selina started. "I don't know who he is or what he wants with you, but I was employed with—" she paused to run her fingers through the papers of her passport, pulling out a loose piece and handing it to Batgirl. "—that letter."

"And the cash?" Nightwing asked.

Selina rolled her eyes. Of _course_ the kid would assume there was money involved. "I don't _always_ demand cash payment with my job, you know."

"Selina…"

She huffed, pulling herself from her seat and opening the blinds with one swift pull of the string. "You see that shelter over there?" She pointed to a small, rundown building just within view at the end of the street. "Under the conditions set in the letter your girlfriend is holding, that children's home gets a generous donation and contract details for improving their homes before winter arrives."

The other three looked at her in amazement, with Batgirl reading the letter to confirm her words.

"Look, I'm not the big, bad cat that you think I am," Selina said, "You may have a problem with me because of your daddy-complex and my taking him away from your father-son quality time when you were a kid, Nightwing, but I don't _do_ something without reason."

"And your employer–"

"No idea," she interrupted. "I've never met him, and probably never will. All I know is he's rich and wanted me to be the trigger in all this."

"Trigger?"

"Oh my job is all done. All I had to do was rile up the paparazzi and call in a few sources, announcing your wedding. I _didn't_, however, use _Kylie Nales_ as my alias– but _do_ tell me who had the _nerve_ of using it and I'll help you give them a back scratch."

"What about the dress sent to my house? The design of the wedding rings?" Batgirl asked.

Selina lifted her brows in wonder, but turned to address to Nightwing instead. "Rings and wedding gifts weren't my responsibility either. My last job was to give the entertainment companies the photo of you and that baby, and insisting it was your love-child. I haven't received any other instructions to mess up with your love life."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Robin asked, but it was Nightwing who answered.

"She is," the older male said. He turned to her with a grim face. "But you're not telling us everything you know."

Selina extended her hand to cup the side of Nightwing's face and then pouted her lips. "Kitten, you _really_ need to loosen up and trust me more. Now if you don't have any more questions," she said as she slid her hand away, using it to grab onto the handle of the suitcase while the other held onto her cat carrier, "I have a flight waiting for me. I'll be in the Bahamas – same place I always go after a long mission. Ask Bruce if you want to know where I am; he should know," she said with a wink.

While Batgirl and Robin gave Nightwing a look, he allowed her to leave.

"Oh," Selina added, turning around to face the heroes. "I'll be expecting sixteen grand by tomorrow morning –"

"Fifteen," Nightwing corrected.

"—or the paparazzi will get some _interesting_ news about your childhood, Nightwing. Hired or not, I still have all the exclusive details that I'm willing to give out if I have to."

* * *

**A/N**: So here are the list of clues so far:

**1**. _Selina Kyle _snuck into Dick's room back at the manor, stole his mother's engagement ring and sent it to Barbara, but she was doing it under contract, which means that the person behind this, regardless of Selina's knowledge, _knew_ of their secret identities. **2**. Mount Justice got a fax, so they know about the team and their whereabouts. **3**. We have a copy boy, David Fields, working for some people who are related to Wayne Industries, and some who are rivals of Wayne Industries. **4**. It was 'Dick' (or someone who sounds like him) who called the jeweller's, and it was a woman with no distinguishable accent who called the Reverend at church, now confirmed as a character named _Kylie Nales_ and is not Selina Kyle. **5**. There's a _possibility_ that the person is doing this to distract the team. **6**. The person knows all of Barbara's wants in a wedding because they had _access_ to her wedding book. **7.** The person behind this is an expert hacker. **8.** The employer is rich. Possibly male. Possibly female. Selina referred to them as a _him_, but we still don't know. **9**. There are many people involved. Selina's done her shift and now it's someone else's turn.

So many of you _did_ guess that it was Selina which congrats! You were right. There's just a few more people involved. So, let the guessing games commence once more!

**Shameless advertising**: So remember a few chapters ago, when I asked you to vote on a poll on my profile concerning a new Dick&Babs fic? Well it's out! Titled under: **Just an Ordinary** **Day**, so I'd really appreciate it if you guys checked it out!

Happy holidays!


	10. Chapter 10

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own YJ & I don't own this plot. The plot is originally from** GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titan's story "Drive By Media". I have asked for permission to use the plot for my own Young Justice story.  
**Words**: 2,500+  
**Notes**: Thanks for all of your support! I appreciate each and every one of your reviews!

**X-X-X- **

"—_or the paparazzi will get some _interesting_ news about your childhood, Nightwing. Hired or not, I still have all the exclusive details that I'm willing to give out if I have to." _

The money wasn't the problem – Nightwing figured as much before arriving into Selina's apartment that he would have to cough up some cash to get her to comply – but the idea that there's still someone bigger out there that still had hold of the strings pestered him. Selina wasn't one to orchestrate a plan like this, and she had no reason to, but the hero had foolishly hoped that she would've at least given him a bigger clue–optimistically, he was hoping she'd tell him who was behind the whole operation.

The supposed wedding was a month and a week away at this point, and Nightwing _needed_ to find the culprit as soon as possible. There was no telling what the person behind this would do on the actual day of the "wedding".

With a turn of his head, he watched as Robin scurried through all the data they had, finding stores that he and Barbara were registered to – half of which he hadn't even heard of and were on the other side of the city.

"This person is everywhere," Robin suddenly said. "First they were in Star City, using a public library computer to register for cookware, then they were in a café in Keystone, registering for some gravy boats, plates, and bowls." He paused to scroll through the list. "They were even in Central when they registered for—er…ah-hem, clothes for Barbara," the boy said with a blush, quickly turning the page away from the revealing clothing onscreen.

Nightwing leaned back, resting his head against both of his arms. "So basically they're just toying with us – they knew that we would try to track them down…" The older hero sighed. "Either that or they're hacking into the system and changing their coordinates…"

Glancing at the clock on the screen, Nightwing pulled himself up. "It's getting late. You have school tomorrow, don't you? Get some rest, Tim. We'll continue with the search tomorrow."

"But I can still–" Robin was interrupted, much to his dismay, as Nightwing turned off the computer before he could continue.

"I appreciate the enthusiasm but even I had my limits back when I was Robin. I'm not going to make you go into overdrive, Tim. Besides, back then if my mark went down just a fraction of a percent, I would've had to hang up my cape until that grade went up, so I'm instilling Bruce's rule onto you," Nightwing lectured.

Robin sighed. "Fine, but you'll tell me if you and Barbara find something new?"

The older hero nodded, which was enough to convince Robin to change and head home for some much needed rest. But while Nightwing's shift had ended for the evening, Dick, with an obvious frown, headed upstairs to work on the company's files for the next few hours.

* * *

"Mr. Grayson," the secretary said monotonously through the machine, "Miss Gordon is here to see you. Should I tell her to come back another time?"

Barbara stood outside Bruce's office, somewhat pestered that she had to wait for Dick to confirm her arrival for her to enter the room. She had thought that being his _fiancée_ would have given her some privileges. But then again, it was Dick who was supposed to have met up with her, but based on his groggy reply through the machine – followed by the nod of approval from the secretary – Barbara wouldn't be surprised to hear that he slept through the majority of his meetings today, if not only his lunch date.

"Morning, Dick," she joked upon entering the room, shutting the door behind her as she tossed her jacket onto a nearby chair. "It was nice seeing you today – thanks again for picking me up from the library, by the way," she said sarcastically and rolled her eyes as Dick gave her a muffled response through the sleeve of his suit; his head remained facedown.

Finally, the heir to Wayne Industries lifted his head, albeit reluctantly.

Barbara gave him a look before running her fingers through his hair and straightening out the bedhead.

"Sorry about that, Babs. Long night," Dick explained. "I'll just go freshen up a bit and then we can go."

"Are you sure? You look really out of it, Dick. We can always have lunch here at the cafeteria," the redhead asked.

Dick shrugged as he messily put away the documents he had been resting his head on away into the cabinets, locking them with a key. "Nah, I need a bit of fresh air anyway. Corporate smell gets nauseating after a while."

She smiled in response.

"Wait here. I'll be back."

Barbara nodded and sat herself down onto the chairs by his desk. Bruce's office – or Dick's temporary one – wasn't cluttered, which she had suspected, save for a photo of him, Jason, and Dick, sitting at one end of the desk, and an older one of just him and Alfred on the other end. However, just as she briefly studied the desk, something caught her eye.

She reached for the colourful pamphlet beneath the black and white papers, brows furrowed at the sight. It was a real estate advertisement…For Blüdhaven. She skimmed through the detailed notes stuck onto the ad, written by Dick himself in his, in her opinion, girlish handwriting. Placing it back where she found it, Barbara sat in silence, unsure of how to make of this news.

How long had Dick been thinking about leaving Gotham? She knew, of course, that now that they were out of high school, things were bound to change eventually. If it weren't for Batman's and the League's mission, spanning over several months both at Watchtower and across the globe, then Dick wouldn't have deferred his college admissions by a year in order to keep things running in Gotham. But _Blüdhaven_?

"You ready?" Dick's voice snapped the redhead out of her thoughts, causing her to almost jump from her seat.

Smiling and regaining her posture, Barbara nodded to the man at the door. The thought of only seeing Dick (as Nightwing) once every few days at Mount Justice – that is, _if_ he continued to lead the team –bothered her more than she had wanted.

Still, as she left the building, Barbara chose not to say anything.

* * *

When Dick was younger, he used to jump everywhere he went – literally. It had gotten to the point where he would pop up in front of people's faces, scaring the daylights out of them, just as it did with Barbara the first few times. And even as he matured, he would continue to do that, though more with Barbara than anyone else really – according to her, it had gotten to the point where doing that was no longer _cute_, but rather creepy especially with a stranger.

She didn't mind, of course, but she wasn't quite fond of the contact or closeness as he was. And once Dick knew of this, well, he enjoyed using it against her. Shoving his face in front of hers, pouting his lips and giving her the puppy-dog eyes was his thing, leaning in as close as he could towards her until she would give into his demands. It was _exactly_ what he was doing at the moment.

Sitting in the secluded corner of a local café – the owner promised not to allow any flash photography of the two, so long as his favourite customers keep visiting during their lunch hours – Barbara sat with obvious annoyance to the former Boy Wonder.

"Come on, Babs, there's something wrong with you – I can tell! You're not still mad that I forgot about lunch, are you?"

Barbara shook her head. "It's nothing, Dick. Really." She used her hand to swat his face away.

"Are you being bullied?" He questioned, this time leaning back against his chair. He took a sip from his coffee—_liquid gold_, he liked to call it: the stuff he learned to drink since the early days of being Robin, despite Alfred's constant insistence that too much caffeine at a young age would stunt his growth. He kept his sight on the confused redhead in front of him.

"What do you mean, 'bullied'?"

Dick shrugged. "Tabloids, _Facebook_, _Twitter_, etcetera," he listed. "I know there's a lot of negativity directing towards you and I'm sorry that you have to go through with it. I'm also sorry it took me this long to ask you about how you're feeling."

Barbara replied with a sincere smile and thanked him. "Honestly Dick, it's not like I use any of those social media websites. Besides, this isn't my first scandal with you—I'm used to it. "

"Are you sure? Then what's wrong with you?"

"Why do you keep insisting there's something wrong with me?"

"Because I can tell when you are. You make that…weird face when you look at me!"

Barbara gave him an offended look. "_What_ weird face?" She asked, but when he looked away innocently, she rolled her eyes. She cleared her throat and decided to change the topic, saying: "Anyway, I got a text from Artemis just an hour ago. Did you know that Wally got an invite to our wedding, but not her? She's furious."

Dick, though unconvinced with Barbara's initial response, decided to continue on with the conversation. "Yeah, Wally texted me the same thing too," he said. He then lowered his voice. "That said, I think that the person doing this is after me specifically…"

The redhead sighed and tried to shake away the solemn expression on her friend's face. "We still don't know, Dick. It could be the team itself," she whispered the last part. Placing a hand onto his lap, she drew his gaze onto her. "Regardless of who the target is, I'm sure we'll figure this out soon enough. What was it that you used to say? Get traught?"

Dick smiled and placed a hand on top of Barbara's, squeezing it gently.

_Flash!_

The pair turned around, seeing the owner of the café with an old camera in hand.

"I'm sorry, I know I agreed that no photos are going to be taken," the older man said, "But I couldn't help but notice how happy you two look together—here." He handed Dick the photo. "Polaroid camera," he explained. "That's the only copy of the photo, so no stinking paparazzi can get a hold of it. Keep it, so you two can have something to look back on years from now."

* * *

"Are you just going to keep staring at it, Dick?" Robin asked, staring at the man who appeared to be at a constant battle with his inner demons.

"I-It's…" Dick stammered, but rather than finishing his thought, he waved his arms in the air as if it was enough. When Robin gave no reply, he gave a frustrated sigh. He dropped his head into both hands before lifting it back up after a whole minute, only to stare at the suit in front of him, and then furrow his brows and pace around the cave—_again_.

"It's the _Batsuit_," Robin enunciated. "You've worn it before—I've seen the pictures, Dick."

But Dick wouldn't accept Robin's words. "I was _twelve_ and it was _Halloween_, Tim! I can't wear _this_! It's Bruce's."

Robin groaned, finding a seat on the nearby office chair and wondering where Alfred was—the butler was rather good at convincing Dick to do the impossible. "But Bruce—_and_ Barbara—said that the crooks would get suspicious if Batman stops showing up and you've noticed how rowdy they've been getting!"

"But it's _The Batsuit_!" Dick exclaimed. "I'm not Batman! I'm _Nightwing_."

"And I'm not the future Mrs. Grayson," a voice said from behind, "but I still pretend to be her every day for the past three weeks—four, if you count the one week I was engaged to you from last year's scandal." Batgirl placed a hand on her hip and smirked. "So go _pretend_ to be Batman for a night, Dick, and _stop_ whining."

"But—"

Batgirl narrowed her eyes.

"_Fine_."

As Dick went off to change into Bruce's spare costume, Robin gave Batgirl a high-five.

"Maybe you should marry him, Batgirl," said Robin. "You're the only person, other than Alfred and Bruce, that he'll listen to."

Behind her mask, Batgirl rolled her eyes. "Robin, you don't want to _know_ what happens to Dick when he doesn't listen to me."

Before Dick, as Batman, could come into the room, Robin made a sound effect similar to that of a whip's.

* * *

"I believe your exact words were: _'It means, ladies, that I'm getting married with Dick Grayson,'_" Dick said, raising his voice an octave higher to (poorly) imitate what Barbara had said.

She exhaled. "I can't believe you overheard me say that."

Wally and Artemis had briefly visited again that morning, while on their way to Paula Crock's. It just so happened that while Wally and Superboy were with Dick, the girls had ended up ripping apart several wedding gifts that were sent to Wayne Manor—including one from a certain wedding designer.

"You don't want to marry me, Babs. Even with _Vera Wang_," he mimicked her again. "You're going to have to return that dress anyway."

"But Dick, it's a _gift_! Vera's not going to want it back anyhow," Barbara remarked, ignoring the smile she could see on Alfred's face in the rear-view mirror, as he drove them both back to her place—Dick had ended the day for M'gann and Conner. "Just let me keep that one dress. Besides…I kind of already gave Artemis the gift from _Victoria's Secret_."

Dick made a face in disgust, obviously imagining what Artemis was planning on using the contents in that box for with Wally, then hurriedly shook it away. "How about this: in the future, when you _do _get married, I'll pay for all those ten feet train and ruffled sleeved dresses that you wanted when you were a kid."

She laughed, just as car was pulling over into the curb. Pecking him on the cheek, Barbara said, "How sweet of you, Dick, but I want a thirty feet train." She opened the door, and climbed out of the car.

However, with the crowd of paparazzi still crowding viciously around her house, Dick decided to jump out of the car as well, tailing after her.

Barbara gave him a look, telling him to go back into the car since she was more than capable of handling a few photographers and reporters, but her friend insisted on leading her straight into the house.

"_Mr. Grayson, Miss Gordon, over here!"_

"_Could we have a word, Mr. Grayson?"_

"_Miss Gordon, can we—"_

Before Barbara could react, one of the photographers had reached out to grab her, missing her shoulder and instead, placed his hand onto her chest. Feeling heat rise up to her face, she squirmed away, but just moments before she could tell him off, she heard a familiar voice—

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!"

—followed by the sight of the photographer on the ground with a bloody nose and a broken camera lying next to him.

Barbara turned around and saw a red-faced Dick with clenched teeth and a bloodied fist.

And in that moment, the paparazzi went haywire.

* * *

A/N: Ooooh, he's in trouble now...So I'm going to be adding more Dick and Babs in the next few chapters, so the clues for the case will more or less stay the same.

Clues so far:

**1**. _Selina Kyle _snuck into Dick's room back at the manor, stole his mother's engagement ring and sent it to Barbara, but she was doing it under contract, which means that the person behind this, regardless of Selina's knowledge, _knew_ of their secret identities. **2**. Mount Justice got a fax, so they know about the team and their whereabouts. **3**. We have a copy boy, David Fields, working for some people who are related to Wayne Industries, and some who are rivals of Wayne Industries. **4**. It was 'Dick' (or someone who sounds like him) who called the jeweller's, and it was a woman with no distinguishable accent who called the Reverend at church, now confirmed as a character named _Kylie Nales_ and is not Selina Kyle. **5**. There's a _possibility_ that the person is doing this to distract the team. **6**. The person knows all of Barbara's wants in a wedding because they had _access_ to her wedding book. **7.** The person behind this is an expert hacker. **8.** The employer is rich. Possibly male. Possibly female. Selina referred to them as a _him_, but we still don't know. **9**. There are many people involved. Selina's done her shift and now it's someone else's turn.

On the invite list now are: Lex Luthor, Oliver Queen, Dinah Lance, Wally West, but _not_ Selina Kyle or Artemis.

Please review! :)


	11. Chapter 11

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own YJ & I don't own this plot. The plot is originally from** GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titan's story "Drive By Media". I have asked for permission to use the plot for my own Young Justice story.  
**Words**: 2,900+  
**Notes**: Someone asked if they could read the original story by GraysonsGirl, _Drive By Media_, without spoiling this story's ending. **Answer**: Yes, you can read their story without spoiling the ending of this one because I only took the idea of the media popularizing the idea of Dick and Barbara getting married. Everything else, I try to make as original as possible. :)

**X-X-X-**

"_GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!"_

_Barbara turned around and saw a red-faced Dick with clenched teeth and a bloodied fist._

_And in that moment, the paparazzi went haywire._

M'gann felt a chill the moment she had entered the courtroom, filled with hushed whispers and ice cold staring from all the officers nearby. Even the jury, with their focus on Dick and Barbara, both of whom were ahead of her and Conner by a few steps, seemed to bother her.

She had never imagined things to get this carried away–all it was supposed to be was just a simple mission. Nightwing said that it shouldn't last more than two weeks, but here they were, on the third week and still short on clues.

Sitting onto the benches, just behind Dick and Barbara, she watched as the case began. In the back of her mind, she could count every soul in that room, much less than she had anticipated, though she assumed it had something to do with Dick's influence. That didn't stop the press from waiting eagerly outside of the doors though, as their thoughts were as loud as the judge's gavel.

It was the photographer and his lawyer who presented their side of the story first, and then Dick's team of lawyers. Despite having watched many courtroom dramas back at the mountain, M'gann hadn't realized how much editing the TV shows undergo, as her current situation had lasted several hours versus the twenty to thirty minutes on her screen.

When the intermission was called, M'gann let out a sigh of relief. The judge was favouring Dick's side of the story, she could tell. She was tempted to go up to the pair and tell them the good news, until she noticed them conversing.

Dick Grayson had had his hand securing a grasp around Barbara's ever since the beginning of the trial, though M'gann wasn't sure from where she was standing, who had the bigger grip. Barbara seemed to be equally, if not more, worried than Dick was, passing him the occasional glance throughout the case. And surprisingly, every once in a while, she could hear a thought or two slip from their minds.

She noticed an older man with a moustache approach them, quickly registering his name – Commissioner James Gordon, or so the profiles that Nightwing provided her with called him. He stepped towards Dick and Barbara with a stern look.

He wanted to speak to Barbara in private, M'gann read through the movements of his lips. And as the Martian watched Barbara walk away with her father, fake engagement or not, she could tell that Dick was disappointed to have had to let go of her hand.

* * *

Dick knew exactly what the commissioner had wanted to talk to him about the moment he received an invite to the Gordon residence. And despite his initial nervousness when he entered the house, the jitters quickly left him, leaving the sort of confidence he usually felt as Nightwing.

"Have a seat, son," Jim said, remaining in his own as he watched the younger man sit by the dining room table.

"Is Barbara not going to join us?" Dick asked.

Jim shook his head. "She's with her friends at the moment—I want to talk to you about this _engagement _of yours, Richard." He held up a hand to prevent Dick from speaking. "I think, from the perspective of the commissioner, _and_ as Barbara's father, that this is getting out of hand. Not only are you endangering Barbara's life, but you're fooling the press as well—do you know what will happen once they find out the truth? Now, I don't know when Bruce is coming back to fix all this, but your methods are _not_ acceptable anymore. The police need to be involved!"

"No," Dick firmly stated, surprising the man in front of him. He cleared his throat and adjusted the volume of his voice. "Mr. Gordon, I…This is a private matter that needs to be solved within Wayne Industries with_out_ any outside involvement—"

"Yo—"

"_However_," Dick enunciated, interrupting Jim once more. He gulped once before letting a sigh escape his lips. Looking straight into Jim's eyes, Dick said: "I agree with you that things are getting out of hand. And if I could turn back time to prevent Barbara from getting involved, I would." He paused as if to recollect his thoughts and find the proper words. With a solemn facial expression, Dick lowered his eyes. "I've been thinking about it for a while, and I know Babs says she's okay with this, but…After what happened the other day—" Dick's knuckles visibly whitened—"I'm _exactly_ where you are on this."

"You're ending the engagement." It wasn't a question.

"I'm ending the engagement," Dick confirmed. "I will find some way to deal with the company's problems later, but you and I both share the same idea, Mr. Gordon: Barbara comes first before our jobs –_both_ jobs."

Jim Gordon stared at Dick earnestly, studying the hard shaped face that outlined the young man he watched grow up alongside his daughter. He adjusted his glasses just as Dick lifted himself up from the seat, ready to leave the home. Finally, Jim asked: "Are you referring to mine and your own at Wayne Industries when you say 'both jobs', son? Or are you referring to your _other_ job as well?"

Dick didn't flinch or react to the commissioner's comment. Rather, he held out his hand to shake the older man's, and gave a smile that was a replica of Bruce's well-carved, made-for-public-eyes, grin.

"I'll see you later, Mr. Gordon," Dick said, before exiting the house.

* * *

"_All charges against Richard 'Dick' Grayson for physical violence against the photographer from Entertainment Media were dropped earlier this morning…"_

M'gann and Batgirl, along with the other heroes at the mountain watched the reporter discuss the events of the courtroom, despite having heard M'gann and Conner explain to the team what had happened earlier on.

Batgirl on the other hand, was still trying to get her head wrapped around the entire ordeal; everything that happened in the past week, starting from when the photographer had _accidentally_–or so he claimed in court—groped her to the moment Dick broke his nose, and then the everlasting court battle had her overwhelmed.

She turned to look at Robin who was soaking up every detail he could about the case which he wasn't allowed to attend due to his age and lack of involvement. She felt a little bad for the kid, since his debut as Robin had only started for a few months when Batman was called away on the mission, and now with the scandal, there wasn't much he could do outside of the Batcave.

"_This just in: a representative for Richard Grayson has called—"_

Suddenly, all eyes turned to the television set, engrossed in what the media had to say about this call. Though out of the bunch, Batgirl, Robin, M'gann and Conner were possibly the ones who paid most attention, all wondering what Dick had decided to do this time without their approval or understanding.

"_Ladies and gentlemen, the engagement between Richard Grayson, ward of multi-billionaire Bruce Wayne, and Barbara Gordon, daughter of Gotham's Commissioner Gordon, is _over_! The two were reportedly broken up during the past week while Grayson was put on trial."_

Batgirl's mouth dropped, and the quick gasps that escaped her teammates' mouths hadn't even reached her ears before she found herself dashing for the zeta tubes, which announced her departure.

All she could think at that moment, as she furiously made her way to Wayne Manor, was how Dick could go ahead and do something major as that without discussing it with her first.

* * *

"I'm fine, Batman—just worry about your mission," Nightwing said through the intercom in the cave, then after hearing the shuffle which was Barbara entering the room, he told the older man: "Look, I can handle it. I'll talk to you later." He shut off the machine.

"Dick, what the hell were you thinking?!"

Under normal circumstances, Nightwing (or Dick) would have enjoyed toying with Barbara for a while longer, playing innocent and having her feel the need to bribe the answers out of him, but on that particular day, he could already feel grey hairs coming out of his scalp with everything that had been going on. And so, he complied and went straight to the answers.

"I was thinking what was best for all of us," he replied, turning at the same time to face. He pulled off his mask, revealing two tired eyes, both filled with concern upon meeting face to face with the redhead in front of him.

"You _cancelled_ the engagement without discussing it with me! I'm a part of this as much as you are. You should've talked to me first!" Barbara stated in a loud voice that, to an outsider, could've been considered a yell.

Dick remained seated, unfazed by her words.

"You _always _start off a mission as a team effort but then go off on your own! Everything you do, you do yourself without reaching out to anyone. And if it's not this then it's you moving to Blüdhaven without telling anyone about it—" She continued to rant.

That was what pulled him from his chair. "Wait, you _know_? How in the world did you—"

"Because the real estate brochures were on your desk at work!"

"You went through my belongings? Really, Barbara, you've scooped that low?"

"Excuse you, Mr. Hacker! That's not the point anyway—the point is you're becoming more and more like Bruce."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that even if this is a _team_ effort, that more than _one_ person is involved, _you're_ the only one who's doing anything because you won't let anyone else help!"

"I don't see how me moving to Blüdhaven has anything to do with the team, Barbara!" He responded, voice overpowering hers and sending shock through her system. It was rare to hear him yell, especially at anyone other than Bruce. "And so what if I'm moving? I don't have to tell you everything! We're not in ninth grade anymore."

"Oh, I specifically remember you _not_ telling me _anything_ in ninth grade, Dick!" She marched up to him. "And I'm talking about the paparazzi scandal!"

"Well even if I did tell you, we would've come to that conclusion anyway!"

"Is it because of the photographer? Is that what led you to do this?" Barbara guessed. "That was an accident—"

"But what if it wasn't?!"

"I _still_ would have been able to take care of myself! I'm not wearing this cape for nothing, Dick!"

"Well I don't want it to happen!" He waved his arms in the air for emphasis. With a grim face, he lowered his head as well as his voice. "I know you can defend yourself, Barbara," he said quietly. "But that doesn't mean I want things _to_ happen to you so that you would have to..."

And suddenly, the two were quiet.

Barbara stared at the ground for what seemed like a very long time, thinking about what Dick had just said. Regardless, she knew that what she told him was right, but before she could open her mouth to speak, the sound of someone arriving to the cave changed the words escaping her mouth.

"I'm…going to head home—help my dad deal with the press…"

Dick briefly nodded and turned his attention to the blank computer screen again. He glued himself to his work, even as he listened to each step growing softer in sound as his friend walked away. Then, Tim's voice pulled his direction from his work.

"Robin?"

"Barbara's right, Dick," the young boy said, leaning against the wall with crossed arms. "You're the one who insisted we start acting like a team with the others at Mount Justice, but if it's not me, then it's Batgirl who you exclude in these missions. Not to mention M'gann and Conner who _still_ have no idea what's really going on—and I _know _Bruce has allowed you to tell them your identity for a while now. Maybe you should start taking your own advice and start putting your trust in others instead of doing things yourself."

Dick stayed silent.

* * *

"Lane–Grayso—articl—"

"–I don't care, Perr –"

"You–"

"I don't _do_ reality star–Pulitzer priz–Kent!"

Dick tapped his fingers along Bruce's desk impatiently, as the secretary handed him more documents to look over, adding another hour's work to his never-ending job. The shoulder that was helping wedge the phone in between it and his cheek was starting to ache.

"_Lane_!"

He flinched when the man's booming voice potentially damaged his eardrums. Then, he heard the familiar, female voice from the other line of the phone, which drew a quick smile onto his face.

"Fine!" She had said.

* * *

Lois Lane played with her pen as her eyes darted up and down between the fancy table cloth in front of her and the entrance of the restaurant, awaiting for the arrival of a man she had the _pleasure_ of meeting several times when he was a child—a rambunctious one at that. It was many years after she dated Bruce Wayne, though maybe a year or two before she and Superman were an item, and definitely years before she and Clark Kent went public.

It hadn't really mattered though, who she went out with in the past and when, seeing as they all led her to this particular person, whether it be at charity junctions, or interviewing the boy who outsmarted his kidnappers, or dinner with Clark's "friends", Lois knew she saw the Wayne-Grayson family too many times for a person living all the way in Metropolis.

Finally, twenty minutes after the start of their meeting, the guest of honor arrived, looking handsome as ever in his blue-grey suit and perfected smile.

"Grayson, I see you've taken upon your father's habit of arriving fashionably late," she said, standing up to properly greet him.

He chuckled sheepishly, one hand behind his head as he did so. "Sorry, Lois. There's a swarm of reporters out there—kind of hard to go through them all. You know how it is."

She gave him a look before clearing her throat and setting out her recorder. "Right, well let's get down to business."

"How about dinner first? Bruce'll have my neck if he finds out I invited a beautiful woman out to the fanciest restaurant in Gotham without actually offering a meal," Dick said suavely. He flashed another grin, which further annoyed Lois.

"Smooth, kid, but I'm not here for a hearty meal. I'm–"

Dick interrupted while waving his hand to the waiter nearby who took the hint. "You're here because I called you for an exclusive, and if it weren't for Clark being away, you'd be writing your next prized article back in Metropolis in hopes of winning the Pulitzer Prize—yeah, I got that the first time you interviewed me."

The reporter frowned, reminiscing the good old days when the boy had better manners than this. But then again, she thought with a shrug, he could've turned out worse being raised by a man whose personas were at opposite ends of the spectrum—not that she'd mention it to him though. Even Clark wasn't even aware that she knew of his own superhero identity either, but once she had figured that out, it wasn't hard to put the other pieces together with his friends and their secretive jobs.

Lois let out a sigh, allowing the waiter to pour the wine into her glass. She had a feeling it would be a long night – both Bruce and his kid had a way with words and it would take Lois a while to unravel their cryptic responses, or at least, get them to give out enough answers to formulate a proper article.

"Alright, now that we both know why we're here, why don't you start with what every single reporter out there wants to know, Grayson?"

His grin dropped and he finally straightened his posture. "You mean why my engagement with Barbara Gordon ended."

Lois nodded, almost caught off guard by the sudden change of face on the young man's visage. She then remembered about the fancy recording device sitting on the corner of the table, and said clearly: "Yes, your engagement with Ms. Gordon, though sudden, ended just as swiftly. Could you explain to the public what had happened between you two to lead to such an event?"

Dick paused momentarily, sipping a glass of wine before pursing his lips. "Look," he began, "we were in love, but we realized that we were too young and that there were a lot of pressures surrounding us, especially from our families who also thought we were rushing this, and the media. Turns out there were a lot of things we didn't know about each other from before, and I could tell Barbara was getting uncomfortable with everything the media was revealing about me, so we talked about it…and we decided to call it off."

Frowning, she reached her hand out to stop the recording and with a tilt of her head, she leaned in to mutter: "That is a load of bullshit, Grayson. I don't buy it."

He smirked. "I _know_," he said, "but the press _will_."

Lois stared at him and then restarted her recorder. "Tell me the _whole_ story."

.

* * *

A/N: So I hope my interpretation on Lois's personality is good enough. I base her mostly on _Smallville_'s Lois though, so I don't know how exact she is to the comics.

P.S. Lots of Nightwing and Batgirl moments coming up! :)

Clues so far:

**1**. _Selina Kyle _snuck into Dick's room back at the manor, stole his mother's engagement ring and sent it to Barbara, but she was doing it under contract, which means that the person behind this, regardless of Selina's knowledge, _knew_ of their secret identities. **2**. Mount Justice got a fax, so they know about the team and their whereabouts. **3**. We have a copy boy, David Fields, working for some people who are related to Wayne Industries, and some who are rivals of Wayne Industries. **4**. It was 'Dick' (or someone who sounds like him) who called the jeweller's, and it was a woman with no distinguishable accent who called the Reverend at church, now confirmed as a character named _Kylie Nales_ and is not Selina Kyle. **5**. There's a _possibility_ that the person is doing this to distract the team. **6**. The person knows all of Barbara's wants in a wedding because they had _access_ to her wedding book. **7.** The person behind this is an expert hacker. **8.** The employer is rich. Possibly male. Possibly female. Selina referred to them as a _him_, but we still don't know. **9**. There are many people involved. Selina's done her shift and now it's someone else's turn. **10**. Both Jim Gordon and Lois Lane actually know or have suspicions on the Bats' and some of the Justice League's identities. This doesn't have to do with the case though...or does it?

On the invite list were: Lex Luthor, Oliver Queen, Dinah Lance, Wally West, but _not_ Selina Kyle or Artemis.

Your thoughts on this mystery? Who's behind it? Why?


	12. Chapter 12

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own YJ & I don't own this plot. The plot is originally from** GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titan's story "Drive By Media". I have asked for permission to use the plot for my own Young Justice story.  
**Words**: 2,600+  
**Notes**: This chapter is a filler. So is the next. And the one after that. Sorry, I just need to have these in. Not to mention I've been lacking in the romance department, so I gotta catch up on that.

**X-X-X-**

"_That is a load of bullshit, Grayson. I don't buy it."_

_He smirked. "I _know_," he said, "but the press _will_."_

_Lois stared at him and then restarted her recorder. "Tell me the _whole_ story."_

"Miss Martian? Superboy?" Barbara said in a hushed tone, coming from the back rooms at the library. She had insisted that she was capable of working, but since no media reporter would leave her alone, the librarians had instilled cataloguing work for her behind closed doors. Barbara hadn't minded though, so long as she was able to work in peace. That is, until one of her bosses had called her out.

The auburn hair girl with the sunglasses smiled and waved happily, as the male nodded in affirmation.

Leading them to where she had been working just before, Barbara questioned why they were there.

"Nightwing told us Dick acted without consulting him first by breaking the engagement," Miss Martian answered, "but Dick apologized."

That struck Barbara as odd and she turned to them with a curious glance. "He apologized to Nightwing?"

With a slightly angered expression, Superboy was the one who replied. "No, he apologized to all of us because what he did nearly ruined all of our plans for this mission!" The clone's voice had gotten louder towards the end, to which Miss Martian hushed him nervously by pressing a finger to her lips while looking at her surroundings; the librarians looked up in annoyance but then shifted their attentions back to their work.

Barbara looked at him incredulously, soaking in the information. It wasn't until she realized that Superboy and Miss Martian were still staring back at her that she shook herself out of her thoughts. "Oh, so…Why are you guys here? He didn't send you two to tell me that, did he?" She would have been furious if that were the case.

"Actually, Dick requested we still remain your bodyguards," said Miss Martian. With a soft tone, she continued: "He's really worried about you, Barbara. He told us you're capable of handling yourself, but for his sake, he wanted us to be here with you."

Her eyelids lowered, covering the saddened blue eyes and recalling their argument. Barbara glanced out the window to see several robins fly by and her mouth formed a line.

* * *

Batgirl hadn't talked to either Nightwing or Dick since their last conversation. Since then, several days had past and the two of them had been swamped by paparazzi, both at home and at work, requesting for interviews and statements. However, she had never once given the media a response—that was usually her dad's or Dick's jobs as they were more used to it; she knew from experience that anything she said could be used against her in the future. Even so, Dick rarely gave out statements since Bruce was often the center of attention.

Her teammates could tell there was something wrong with her now, each member eyeing her once in a while and shifting between asking her if she was okay to the TV screen, which summarized the reports obtained by Lois Lane's recent article.

"Hey," a voice said.

Batgirl turned around to see Conner sitting down nearby. She adjusted her sunglasses before responding to him. "Hey."

He crossed his arms and continued to fixate on the screen. "Lois Lane has a theory that Bruce Wayne is Batman and Dick Grayson is Nightwing."

The blunt words almost knocked the air out of Batgirl, but instead of expressing any sort of shock, she raised a brow nonchalantly. "Have you _seen_ Bruce Wayne? The oaf's clumsier than anyone I know," she said. "What brought this up anyway?"

Propping an elbow onto the table, she watched her other teammates bickered back and forth – one side wanted to watch something differently, as the other side wanted the channel to remain where it was. It was much simpler back when only Conner had a say in what they were going to watch, and usually that was just static.

"She's Clark Kent's girlfriend."

"I know," she said.

"Clark Kent is Superman."

"I _know_." Batgirl smirked.

Conner gave her an annoyed face, but continued. "She _knows_ Superman is Clark, but Clark hasn't said anything yet. She—" He frowned. "—_coerced_ me into a bet with her a while back, as to when Clark will tell her the truth."

The female vigilante stared at Conner with an amused expression on her face. "_Coerced_?" She snuffled. "That sounds like something she'd do— from what I've heard of her. I haven't actually had the pleasure of meeting the League's favourite reporter. So she knows you're Superboy then?"

Conner frowned, but nodded. "She has theories on all of us. Superman trusts her, so I trust her; I don't think she would tell anyone else. I only know because she interrogated me once." He shifted uncomfortably. "She got some of them right, based on the identities I know."

Placing her chin into the palm of her hand, Batgirl said, "And do you think she's right? That Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, two of the biggest playboys in Gotham, are _The Dark Knight and his Squire_?"

He frowned. "I did have some suspicions, but M'gann told me that you guys will tell us who you are when you're ready."

"You got that right."

"_But_, that doesn't mean I won't stop guessing—reporter genes," Conner said with a rare grin. He uncrossed his arms and got up from his seat. "Speaking of Lois and Clark, they've taught me to be observant of everything around me because even the smallest details can become front page news."

Batgirl looked up at him, confused.

Conner casually made his way around the table, as if to walk back into the living room to join the crowd. Before passing Batgirl, he said in a lowered tone of voice: "Your face just now is identical to Barbara Gordon's and I _know_ that face: you look like you just lost the person you trusted the most."

And with that, he left, leaving Batgirl feeling flushed and exposed.

* * *

Nightwing still had his black dress shirt on along with the bottom half of his suit attire (the tie was promptly rid of the moment his corporate meeting ended). The only difference between now and the hour prior were the sunglasses that protected his eyes and identity along with the shaggy hair that was no longer gelled. When the team asked, he told them he had a job interview, which wasn't necessarily a lie either.

Despite wanting to talk to Batgirl, he opted to drill exercises into his team, demanding some to do laps around the cave while others lifted weights or sparred against one another. Essentially, he created a workout circuit for all of them, including the seniors, until the majority of them that could sweat _would_ sweat.

His threat? Cut the league funding that gave them cable and of course, in the midst of his scandal, he _knew_ half of the team would comply, dragging in the other half who was already more than pleased to do something with their energy for once.

"Beast Boy, you need to be quicker at deciding what animal you want to change into—there's no time to think in cases of emergency," Nightwing called out just as the small boy's failure was announced on the training mat. He turned to the other side of the room. "Jaime, a word please."

The Hispanic boy ended his spar with Robin and shot a look of confusion towards his leader. "Jefe? Is there a problem?"

Nightwing shook his head, but pointed towards Superboy and Mal Duncan. "I want you to continue your workout with them."

"Por qué?" The newcomer didn't look too pleased to be told to work with the two biggest males on the team.

"Look at your arms—they're covered in bruises from each time Robin landed a hit on you with his bo. Now I know what it's like to be the smallest member of the team—"

"I'm not the smallest though!" Jaime interrupted.

Nightwing held a hand up. "No, you're not, but without the battle armour, you're one of the weakest. Now I don't know how that scarab of yours works, but if there's ever a time when you can't use it, I want you to at least be able to defend yourself."

The younger hero paused his conversation with Nightwing momentarily, backing up a step or two and whispered to himself in a harsh tone, but then turned to his leader. "Está bien, jefe," he said before turning away reluctantly, and headed towards the weights.

Suddenly, a pair of hands snaked their way around his face, blocking his vision. Nightwing pushed his elbow back, but the person evaded his attack; they slid their hands down to his shoulders and used it as leverage to pull themselves up.

The man used the opportunity to reach behind him, grabbing the woman's waist and throwing her over his shoulders. He watched as she flipped swiftly before throwing a weapon in his direction, which would have hit him had he not arched backwards. The bat-a-rang indented the cave wall behind him. But Nightwing fell over when a leg swept below him and landed on his back.

He grinned widely, feeling all eyes on him, but only focusing on the pair of sunglasses-covered ones that hovered over him.

"You're improving," he commented, and accepted Batgirl's hand reaching out for his. "Alright everybody, fifteen minute break!"

The majority of the members in the room breathed a sigh of relief and within a few short minutes, they had all dissipated to the rest of the rooms in the mountain.

Only three remained. Robin had eagerly looked up at Nightwing, waiting for his routinely critiques and suggestions, but then he noticed the _look_ on both his and Batgirl's face directing at himself. Gulping, he backed away. "Uh—er—I'll just… out there…with the others," he said before shutting the training room door behind him.

Nightwing and Batgirl laughed, though the sound quickly died.

"So…that was an interesting, new training regime," Batgirl commented, shying away from Nightwing's face.

"Yeah," he spoke quietly. "I think…it's time we start focusing on the team now."

"Are we going on a mission soon?"

"Possibly." He paused, waiting for Batgirl to say something, but she didn't. He said: "I think…Lex Luthor might be behind this—he fits the criteria, and this wouldn't be the first time he's tried to distract the League with something ridiculous in order to achieve something else."

Batgirl nodded. "And you think Lois Lane might be of some help, which is why you chose her for the interview," she assumed correctly.

"How's that for telling you my plans?" He grinned, and earned a smile from the woman in front of him too.

"Heh, you're getting better..." She licked her lips to prepare herself for what she had to say. "I'm sorry for going through your files in your office. And for yelling at you."

"Just that time, or all the time, cause you tend to scream at me a—hey, I'm kidding," he laughed as he ducked away from her hand. Regaining his posture, he stood up straight and leaned towards the redhead. "I was bound to tell you anyway…You see, I'm trying to make my own identity. Sort of the Nightwing version of Dick Grayson. Find my passion and whatnot somewhere where I won't be associated with Bruce or Wayne Industries."

"So you chose Blüdhaven."

"Yeah. There I was: lost, desperate for some answers, when a newspaper article came flying my way in the middle of the crowded streets with a printed ad for Blüdhaven…"

"You're hilarious," Batgirl said sarcastically but laughed.

"I _know_." He paused for a moment and then said: "I…I'm also sorry for breaking the engagement without talking to you first, but I really do think it's the best course of action considering…"

"Considering what happened to me," Batgirl finished; he was silent. "I understand, Wing. I'm…still not happy you did it, but I'm sure we can find a way to solve this case. Thank you though—I really appreciate it."

And just before the team came back into the training room, Batgirl placed a kiss on Nightwing's cheek.

* * *

_WAYNE HEIR AND FIANCÉE: ENGAGEMENT IS OVER_

_By Lois Lane_

_An exclusive interview between Richard Grayson of Wayne Industries and Lois Lane of the Daily Planet._

_On the eve of July 17__th__, ward of multi-billionaire, Bruce Wayne, and assumed heir to Wayne Industries, Richard 'Dick' Grayson, 18, announced the end to his and Gotham's Commissioner James Gordon's daughter, Barbara Gordon, 18. The two had originally planned to marry on August 28__th__ this summer._

_According to Grayson, the on-again, off-again romance between him and Gordon had officially begun sometime freshman year of high school—both attended Gotham City Academy, with Gordon on scholarship provided by Bruce Wayne. The engagement commenced the night of both his and Gordon's convocation from Gotham City Academy on June 24__th__ of this year. Gordon had accepted the proposal and they had intended to keep the engagement a secret until an unknown source had revealed their planned nuptials to the public._

_Within a span of three weeks, the pair experienced shocks and revelations that neither had previously known before, along with the stresses of becoming a wedded couple. _

_LL: What did you feel had the most impact on yours and Miss Gordon's relationship?_

_RG: Well, [Barbara Gordon] and I had always been truthful to one another throughout our relationship, [but] there were still many things we didn't know about each other._

_LL: Could you provide a few examples?_

_RG: -laughs nervously- They're mostly all on my part. I, uh, have a bit of a past with some of the girls from school._

_LL: Are you referring to your many high school flings, which had previously earned you the title of 'Gotham's Playboy Prince', similar to that of your adopted father's nickname some years ago?_

_RG: -nods-_

_LL: So was it a lack of trust and faith that had you and Miss Gordon diverging from the thought of marriage?_

_RG: No, not exactly. [Barbara's] great that way. She and I have never doubted the other, and we're always there [for each other] no matter what. I completely trust her and she trusts me. Like I said earlier, we were just rushing things, and [we] hadn't taken the time to really know each other._

_LL: If you two are just taking the time to know each other, then why not put the wedding on hold? Why break the engagement entirely?_

_RG: There's no definite answer for that question [...] It's just what we decided in the end._

_LL: Are you and Miss Gordon still together?_

_RG: -smiles- I hope so._

_LL: Could you please provide a more clear response?_

_RG: We're, uh, more or less taking a break from each other. -chuckles- _

_LL: And if you two get back together in the future, is there anything you will do differently?_

_RG: We're going to have to be really sure and ready—it won't be a spur of the moment type thing. I'd like for our families to approve first too. -shrugs- And hopefully it'll be a more quiet this time. Regardless of what happens in the end though, we still really care for each other and I don't think anything can replace that._

_LL: Then it should be relatively simple when I ask you the following questions._

_RG: -silent-_

_LL: Was there another girl involved?_

_RG: No._

_LL: Do you still love her?_

_RG: Yes._

_More on Richard Grayson's interview under 'Celebrity Break-Ups' on page E2._

.

* * *

**A/N**: Please review! **Also**: Dick saying he loves Barbara in that article is fake. He doesn't love her (yet). Well, he has that same love that you would feel for a really close friend. In fact, everything in that article is fake. So don't get your hopes up...for now.

There haven't really been any new clues so far on the mystery, other than Nightwing suspecting Lex to be involved - but is he right?

Your guesses so far have been very interesting! One (or more) of you actually guessed who the culprit is, though you forget: Selina Kyle _did_ mention that there's a second henchman helping out, and you guys have yet to guess him/her.

Earlier I mentioned there will be a few fillers coming up, so I apologize again. But the story will pick up eventually once I'm done with those. In total, I think I have another 10 (?) chapters. Total number will be between 20-25 chapters, plus an epilogue and a chapter filled with deleted scenes.

I _could_ write more, but I feel like I'm dragging out the mystery enough already, unless you guys want me to solve the mystery asap, but still have the paparazzi pick on Dick and Barbara's relationship status for a few more chapters after that. Any thoughts?


	13. Side Story

**Title**: Paparazzi - _Dances_  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own YJ  
**Note**: THIS IS NOT AN UPDATE. Not really. Sorry if I got your hopes up, but this is a side story! I wanted to post something for Valentine's Day (or the day before).

I _tried_ to make it follow the Paparazzi storyline. I'd say this would fit 2 years after the first season, and 2 years before the current Paparazzi storyline, but I did develop Dick and Barbara's relationship a bit more than it is in the story.** ALSO**, the style of writing is a tad different than the usual. Again, this is just a side story, barely related to the actual story. I hope you enjoy it!

**X-X-X-**

Batgirl was furious.

No.

She was _beyond_ furious.

Next to her, M'gann, Karen, and even _Tula_ sighed dreamily despite all three being in perfectly happy relationships. She didn't even understand why. _Why_ were they sighing? _Why _were they wasting a perfectly good Thursday afternoon watching _this_? There was _nothing_ entertaining about this. But nay.

Here they were, crowding around the living room with the TV on, and the latest _Teen Sensation_ magazines scattered across the coffee table like this was some sort of fifteen year old's bedroom.

"_Last night, Richard 'Dick' Grayson_ _showed up to Gotham Square looking dapper as usual! He's clearly following the footsteps of his adoptive father, Bruce Wayne, who appeared in the spotlight sometime later looking just as fine, with his date: the infamous Selina Kyle."_

The reporter continued in her gushy, dream-like voice that would rival that of Luna Lovegood's –Batgirl herself couldn't remember when she started referencing Harry Potter, but she suspected it had something to do with Wally. The footages revealed Bruce's speech, announcing a charitable donation to the organization that had organised the entire event, followed by him shaking hands with the founder.

"I wish I was there," M'gann sighed with a cheek rested on the palm of her hands. "It would have been so romantic with all those lights and the music." She let out a giggle, presumably daydreaming about dancing in the midnight lights with Conner at a gala of some sort.

Mal, Batgirl knew, was a romantic, but for some reason, Karen seemed to be equally enthralled as M'gann with her dazed glances and occasional hums at the shots of Bruce Wayne and Richard Grayson. The redhead wondered if the former football player knew of his girlfriend's hobby of gaping at eye-candy and if he would mind that one of those two eye-candies was his teammate while the other was his boss.

And then there was Tula. _Tula_. The kind-hearted girl, who was dedicated to no one other than her Atlantean boyfriend, was introduced by the other two to the land-dweller's most popular bachelors. And thus, led to _this._ At least she hadn't gotten as far as develop a creepy obsession with _Jason Todd_ who was younger than all the girls on the team, and yet had captured more than half of their hearts – Bruce really had a knack for choosing partners.

Hanging out with the girls though, wasn't what had Batgirl so mad. It wasn't the media footage on last night's banquet either. Not entirely.

"_The biggest shocker of the night was when Richard Grayson _rejected_ Barbara Gordon, daughter of Commissioner Jim Gordon, to dance with his ex-girlfriend, Jennifer McGraw, daughter of Horton McGraw of M.G. Enterprises."_

Well, maybe.

"_Sources say that Gordon had attempted several times to approach Grayson during the banquet, but was turned down each and every time as Grayson led _another _girl to the dance floor. Ouch! Even Gordon couldn't keep Grayson still with her father's handcuffs."_

Seriously?

It wasn't that she _wanted_ to dance with Dick—honestly, _why_ were the reporters always trying to make her seem like some desperate girl on the lookout for moneybags? Rather, it was because every other person invited was a high socialite, and while Bette was _alright_ to hang out with, she couldn't really converse with anyone other than her best friend. He made events like those much more fun.

_Clearly_ every other girl in the room that night thought the same thing, because every time Barbara had been able to push through crowds in monkey suits, and duck the swinging arms with champagne-filled glasses, she had barely spoken three words before someone else tapped Dick on the shoulder and asked him to the dance floor. And obviously, all this couldn't be on the news without her dejected face blown up on the TV screen for the world—not _just_ Gotham, the _world_—to see.

"Dang, her dress is gorgeous," Karen muttered.

Batgirl smiled, suppressing the urge to thank the girl. At least _someone_ appreciated that clever find. If anything, she bet Dick wouldn't have bothered to notice her pampered look even if she had a plunging neckline to show off her cleavage—not that she would buy a dress that would cut down that deep.

"That's so sad though that she didn't get to dance with him," M'gann said, to which Tula nodded.

Wait, so now she was getting _pity_ remarks from her teammates? Batgirl frowned and looked back at the screen. Just what exactly, in that poorly taken photograph of her, gave away that she was disappointed she didn't get to dance with Dick?

Tula suddenly nudged her. "Are you okay, Batgirl? You're really quiet."

Okay, so maybe she was a _bit_ upset that she didn't get to dance with him. It wasn't like she _liked_ him though. Well, maybe she had a _tiny_ crush on him back in freshman year, but that _wasn't_ important. No. Definitely not.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

The fact was: he stood her up! Grayson stood her up for McGraw! And Smith and Brooke and Kane and all those other girls! She didn't harbour any romantic feelings for him, but those dances at the charity galas? Those were _their_ dances. For the past however many years they've known each other for, they _always_ danced together. That is, if what they did was really considered dancing at all.

Up until recently, every time they were forced onto the dance floor, they would merely mock others and laugh as loud as the bands to the point where either Bruce or her dad would drag them away in embarrassment. They had _never_ danced like _that_.

Dick never held onto her hand like he did for Jennifer McGraw. He never tightened his hold on her waist like he did for Allison Smith. He never leaned into her and whispered whatever it was that made Sarah Brooke smile flirtatiously. He never kissed her hand at the end of the dance like he did with Bette Kane.

So maybe, Batgirl thought, fighting back the tear as she watched the TV broadcast, she was _a little_ jealous. Things were changing between them more than she would have liked and even if she was on the same team as him, even if she saw him regularly at the cave, she wasn't going to be with him as much as she wanted to. They were growing up, and he was no longer _hers_ but all of these other girls'.

"_Up next—"_

Batgirl wouldn't let the reporter finish before she got up from her seat.

"I gotta go," she said, not wanting another recollection of last night's events. She moved around the couches and could hear the other girls calling out for her.

"Are you okay, Batgirl?" Tula asked again.

"Yeah girl, you used to love making fun of our obsessions with the Wayne's. What's up with you today?" Karen added.

"Batgirl, you know you can tell us anything," M'gann sweetly said, recognizing the solemn atmosphere around the other redhead.

But Batgirl shrugged and with a slight smile, she said, "I just have work to do, guys. I'll see you later."

And with that, she left for the monitor room. All she needed was a nice bubble bath in her own home, where no one would remind her that Richard Grayson was a big flirt, that she had spent hours decorating herself for him, and that she spent all of last night standing awkwardly in a crowd of strangers, watching the boy she always danced with become a man dancing with other women.

She didn't want to think about that _at all_. The next person to remind her of such horrid events would get a punch in the face, or a fist in the TV monitor.

"Hey."

Batgirl looked up, inwardly cursing at the fact that she _couldn't_ exactly punch Nightwing, regardless of her earlier promise to herself. Not without reason, anyway—a _good _reason.

He was finally taller than her, she observed, even when she wore heels like she did last night – she _really_ needed to stop reminding herself about that. It was _just_ one night, nothing to get worked up on. All she needed was to act normal, and pretend that night never happened.

Just _breathe_ and _forget_.

"So about last night," Nightwing added.

…So much for that plan. What was wrong with this guy? Correction: what was wrong with her? Batgirl wanted to yell in frustration, but held her tongue back and smiled at him questioningly.

"I forgot to say I liked your dress last night," he said.

Batgirl raised an eyebrow, studying the suddenly nervous Nightwing in front of her. She gave a sly smile. "Well, well, you _did_ notice. I thought I was going to have to wear Selina's dress to get you to notice me." Deep cut, lots of leg, lots of skin. Yep. Selina's dress, beautiful as it was, _would_ be something to catch a man's attention, not just Bruce's.

He flashed a grin at the thought. "You know, that wouldn't be so bad…"

Batgirl rolled her eyes in response. Yep, not just Bruce's. _Every_ testosterone-filled man that night, and the occasional woman, stole a glance at Selina's direction (and more than once too).

"Thanks. I'm glad Karen's not the only one who appreciates my sense of style."

Before she could head through the zeta tubes – she _desperately_ wanted that bubble bath – Nightwing stopped her. What now?

"Something else you wanted to say, Dick?" She asked.

"No names at the mountain," he said, replicating his mentor's stern face.

And here came her favourite part: "I didn't _say_ your name." Batgirl chuckled, which eventually turned Nightwing's frown to a sheepish grin; she was the only one he'd allow to make that joke.

He scratched the back of his head before looking around the room and pressing onto a few buttons on his gauntlet.

"Well, I guess you could say it now if you want to."

Just what did he have planned now?

_RG-Override: Initiating lockdown._

What?

Did Nightwing just _lock_ them in the monitor room? What?

Batgirl stared at him incredulously and he must have noticed because the next thing he said was: "Wait, uh, I have a reason for this!"

Crossing her arms and leaning on one foot, Batgirl gave him a look. "And _what_ exactly is that?"

Before she could protest, Nightwing carefully pulled the mask off her face, and then his own. He stepped back a step, dimmed the lights through the computer on his wrist and added a central, brighter light in the center of the room.

And despite being poked at and pottered with last night by every girl in the room, Barbara watched as Dick bowed down in a gentlemanly manner and say for the first time, "May I have this dance?"

Barbara stared at him. She stared at him and repeated his words in her head. Did he just…?

He did.

He asked her to dance with him.

In the _monitor_ room at the mountain.

She wasn't sure how long she was in a daze– long enough to give Karen a run for her money – for staring at Dick, but it was long enough to urge him to wave a hand in front of her face (and undoubtedly ruin whatever moment they had). Finally, wide eyed as she was, thoughts of bubble baths and pesky reporters out of her mind, Barbara nodded.

He grabbed her hands, like he did for Jennifer McGraw, and placed them on his shoulders, followed by reaching around her waist, which he did with Allison Smith. But things were different from last night.

For one, their dancing was awkward, in the soundless room with no music to follow the beat to. Their movements, though ever so graceful in the battlefield, felt squished with their Nightwing and Batgirl uniforms still on; Kevlar was definitely _not_ going to be used for the Fall Fashion Show this year.

When he leaned into her, similar to when he whispered words that made Sarah Brooke smile flirtatiously the night prior, he never opened his mouth. Barbara had been expecting words, but all she got was a slight tickle on her ear, as he held her closer than usual.

And when were they supposed to stop? There wasn't any music to keep up with, just the odd, misplaced footstep here and there. Not that Barbara minded, of course. She wasn't quite sure if that flutter in her chest was from nervousness or what, but it was odd to feel that around Dick. Kind of nice actually.

Or _really_ nice—whichever word worked and at that moment, _any_ descriptive word worked in Barbara's mind.

When the swaying back and forth stopped, and they both pulled away from each other, Dick had the look in his eyes that he had when he was about to kiss Bette Kane's hand at the end of their dance. But he didn't kiss her gloved hand.

Reasonable. That glove's knocked more teeth out of idiots than it was humanly possible to grow them.

_That_ was when he kissed the edge of her lips.

Barbara looked up at him again, a blush forming on her cheeks.

"We should've been dancing yesterday, Babs," he said nonchalantly, as if him placing his lips on her face was a regular thing—not that she'd mind it if it became a regular thing. Then with a nod of his head, he continued. "I mean, charity balls are our thing. You're always my dance partner."

Her smile grew, and suddenly, the reporters and the girls: they disappeared from her mind. It was idiotic of her to have wanted to be the girl who was with the publicized Richard Grayson.

She had Dick—just Dick. No Grayson-Wayne, no prince of Gotham, no pretty socialite.

Just her, and Dick, and their dances in the monitor room.

.

* * *

**A/N**: And so, I hope you enjoyed this side-story and I hope you guys will have a fantastic Valentine's day (regardless of whether or not you have a date, because really, _chocolate _is on sale).

I'll try to update the chapter for the regular storyline as soon as I can! :)

P.S. I have several side-story ideas in mind, which I may post here and there in the future if they're at all related in the Paparazzi world and if I feel like I'm making you guys wait too long for a regular update, which I'm unable to complete on time.


	14. Chapter 13

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: The idea of the media popularizing the thought of Dick and Barbara getting married was originally from **GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titans story: "Drive By Media." I have asked permission to use it for my own YJ story. All copyrighted characters also do not belong to me.  
**Words**: 2,800+  
**Notes**: So I see you guys really enjoyed that side story-it's clear that more Dick&Babs fluff is needed based on the comments I've received, but you'll have to be patient if you want to see any of that :)

**X-X-X-**

"_I understand, Wing. I'm…still not happy you did it, but I'm sure we can find a way to solve this case. Thank you though—I really appreciate it."_

_And just before the team came back into the training room, Batgirl placed a kiss on Nightwing's cheek._

Nightwing didn't particularly understand why the room was full of giggles that hour. Before their break, all he heard were battle cries and groans of exhaustion, but since seeing Karen wink at him, and the guys laughing in a huddled crowd, he wasn't quite sure what the team was up to now.

So he decided to ask them.

"Alright guys, what did you do this time?" He asked, earning more laughs from his team. He turned to Robin, who was stifling laughter as well; Batgirl was looking away uncomfortably.

Realizing that neither of his partners was going to answer, he turned to Wonder Girl, the one who he could depend on for hearing the truth.

"Cassie?" He asked, and the blonde flushed. "You'll tell me what you guys are laughing about, right?" He gave an angelic grin.

She began stammering. "Uh, it's…" Finally looking up to face him (while red-faced herself for being chosen), she pointed at her own cheek. "Boss, you have something here."

Nightwing furrowed his brows, and wiped his cheek with the palm of his hands. He looked at it to see a faded, red smudge along his skin; he casted Batgirl a glance before feeling the heat rise to his face. He recognized the shade of lipstick, of course—he chose it himself when he selected her birthday gift a few months ago.

The usually calm and collected leader cleared his throat.

"Now that we're all aware that Batgirl's placed her mark on me and that I'm off limits," he joked, staring directly at the redheaded girl whose eyes were widening in embarrassment behind her sunglasses. "Back to training, guys."

In the corner of his eyes, he could see Karen passing Mal a twenty, the latter wearing a triumphant grin on his face as if he had just won a bet. Turning away from the scene, he noticed both M'gann and Cassie interrogating a blushing Batgirl—her facial expression pleaded for him to say something about the status of their relationship, but Nightwing ignored it.

Rather, he accepted the fist-bump with La'gaan and told Beast Boy he'd understand one day when the youngest hero stuck out his tongue in disgust.

* * *

"I _knew_ I shouldn't have done that," Batgirl groaned. She sat in her sweats, just at the entrance of Mount Justice; it had been half an hour since the team dispersed after training.

"You didn't enjoy it?" Nightwing teased as he fiddled with the programming on the computers.

"Really, Nightwing, it's not like I've never done that before." She recalled every ball and charity gala they had attended together in the past, usually ending with Dick _begging_ her to make a move so that the other girls would leave him alone—and both having to suffer the consequences of the media the day after.

"But you've never done that before with the team."

She frowned at the fact. "Well we should just go tell the team that we're not together."

There was a moment of silence, when Nightwing was just reading the screen in front of him, and Batgirl looked ahead of her, waiting for M'gann and Conner to be finished with the showers so that they could discuss about the mission. But then Nightwing spoke.

"Why are you so keen on _not_ being in a relationship with me?"

The redhead rolled her eyes. "Because Karen's been nagging me since she betted with Mal that you would ask me out first."

"So?"

"So? We should tell everyone that there should be no exchange of money because nothing's going on!" Her voice was filled with irritation.

"Come on, BG. Live a little. It's been a while since a prank has gone on in this cave—not since KF left, I think."

Nightwing finally went offline. The light emitting from the screen shut off, signalling for him to turn around and face his friend.

"Is it…really that bad to be in a relationship with me?" He asked. He watched as the redhead in front of him smirked in amusement.

"What? Oh come on, me with you: the playboy, extraordinaire?"

The dark haired hero pursed his lips, muttering: "…Yeah…hilarious."

Nevertheless, he was still fixated on her comment. He had known Barbara for several years, only skipping out on lunch with her whenever there were missions or when they had dates with their significant others. He knew he had a handful of girlfriends in the past and that the media portrayed him as the type to play with girls just as they did with Bruce, but he honestly didn't think that _Barbara _thought of him that way.

Her opinion of him bothered him more than it should have for the rest of the day.

* * *

"So, _hypothetically_, if Luthor was behind this, it would be logical for him to invite himself if he wanted something to happen while he was in Gotham. _But_, he would be an easy suspect due to his criminal record, so maybe something will happen back at Metropolis as well, so we should send spies each day to listen in on his conversations…" Batgirl began rambling, and even Superboy had to agree with her logics.

Nightwing pinched the bridge of his nose. "Batgirl, you're overthinking this."

"Am I?"

Robin, Miss Martian and Superboy turned to face their leader and long-time friend.

"Yep," was all he said before lifting his arm; the holographic screen from his wrist computer showed up. "All you have to do is activate the spy-bot I left at LuthorCorp during a mission two years ago, and voila!"

Suddenly, there were sounds of chatter coming from Nightwing's wrist, all originating from LuthorCorp.

"We can listen in on Luthor's conversations and see if he's up to anything," Nightwing finished, turning the screen off before leaning over towards Robin. "See, bro, this is what Batman means by being prepared for anything and everything.

The younger Boy Wonder nodded eagerly.

"So _what_ is the plan, Nightwing?" Miss Martian asked, interrupting the other two males.

Superboy was the one who answered. "I'm going to get in touch with Lois," he said, "and see if she can conduct any interviews with Lex Luthor."

Nightwing nodded. "We'll have to start assembling squads—four of them. Whether one of those squads will be in Metropolis or not will be determined by what I find with my camera and what Superboy and Lois will find out at his actual office."

"And the Grayson-Gordon wedding?" Batgirl asked.

The man dressed in black and blue turned to her with a confident look, but hadn't responded right away. He wetted his lips to prepare his words, choosing the right ones amongst the dozen thoughts in his mind. Then, he said: "There won't be a wedding, but there'll be a party—a ball or something with the same people who were originally invited to the wedding invited to this one too. It will take place on the day that the wedding was scheduled for."

"We should publicize the fact that Luthor's there, for the added pressure," Robin added.

Nightwing agreed with a curt nod before turning to two of the original team members. "Miss Martian, can I trust you to assemble an alpha team for Gotham?"

The green girl nodded confidently, already mentally choosing members of the team in her mind.

He turned to Superboy and to Robin—the latter looking nervous and filled with anticipation.

"Superboy," he said, much to Robin's displeasure. "Beta."

"Which leaves me with…" Robin muttered, closing his fists.

"Zeta," Nightwing finished, causing Robin's mouth to drop unexpectedly.

"Wait," the youngest hero said. "Why am I Zeta? Zeta squad is always at the Mountain with Mal—why not Gamma?"

"Batgirl and I will be Gamma and we'll be in Gotham acting as a precaution since we know the city and its criminals best—we'll be providing support for Alpha squad if needed." Nightwing paused. Then he said: "Robin, I want you to be here with Mal and connect all the teams. You'll be helping him monitor the computers and provide the necessary computer skills if either Alpha or Beta squads need a hacker while Batgirl and I are unavailable."

The Martian furrowed her brows. "Wait, why can't Batgirl be on Alpha or Beta? Wouldn't we benefit by having a hacker at every station?"

The question bit Nightwing's tongue, and he was silent as were the rest of the members of the group. Behind his sunglasses, he glanced over at Batgirl who shot him a look back, pressing on a previously discussed matter. He could feel Robin's stare as well, though Superboy seemed to be unfazed by the question.

Finally exhaling, he nodded over towards Robin; the young boy got up from his seat and made sure all doors were shut and with a few buttons on his wrist-computer, deactivated the cameras.

"Conner, you were right!" Miss Martian said with glee, clapping her hands before Nightwing could completely pull off his glasses (Batgirl did the same, rubbing her tired eyes afterwards). "You two _are_ Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon—oh!"

M'gann quickly held an embarrassed look to her face, which Nightwing assumed had something to do with the fact that she was involved with the team's gushing over his face on the mountain's TV.

Conner on the other hand, wore a satisfied grin, glad that his friends chose to reveal themselves, finally.

"Right," Nightwing said, placing his identity barrier back on (he felt, as Artemis would say, _naked_ without the item on). "Since we've confirmed that neither Batgirl nor I will be available during this mission, Superboy, I want you to inform me with anything you find about Lex immediately. We'll meet again in three days to share our findings at the manor. We'll add other members of the team to the squads as we move along. Are we clear?"

The other four nodded.

"Clear."

* * *

When everyone began dispersing from the monitor room, Nightwing held Batgirl back, who looked at him curiously. They shot Robin a look, who with a fall of his head, walked away dejectedly, believing that his partners didn't want him involved in the mission anymore—Nightwing gave an amused look when he saw that.

He turned to the redhead and pulled out a photo from one of the compartments in his suit.

"This is the photo that the old man took at the café, isn't it?" Batgirl asked, taking it from Nightwing's hold with a smile. She studied the photo—one of the better ones of them, she might add—with his placid face turned towards hers and his hand on top of hers, which rested on his lap—they looked so happy for a pair in the midst of a scandal.

"I made you a copy—you know, for your wedding scrapbook," he said with a flirtatious grin and had the sunglasses not been in place, he most likely would have winked at her.

"Thanks," she said. "It'll look great under _maid of honor_."

Her comment wiped the smug look off of his face, to which she let out a giggle. Looking down again, Batgirl gazed at the photo, the edges of her lips falling.

"Hey," she called out, earning his attention towards her. She glanced up to focus on him, and the bright screen of the computers faded into the background. She gulped. "Do you think we'll still see each other once you move to Blüdhaven?"

"Jeez, Babs, was that why you were so mad when I didn't tell you about the move? Don't tell me you've been worried about that, I mean…It's not like I'm quitting the team," he said.

Her grip around the photo tightened and even the background chatter that could be heard from the other rooms of the cave seemed muted to her. Shaking her head, she said, "No, I mean _outside _of the team. As Dick and Barbara. Will we get to hang out like this again?" She pointed to the photo.

Nightwing's parted his lips, but no sound came out. He was suddenly deep in thought, and placed a finger to his chin. He stuttered on a few words before he managed to form a complete sentence.

"Well it's not like I'm not going to visit Gotham from time to time—Tim wouldn't be able to survive with Bruce alone. A-And, I mean, there's always you visiting me in Blüdhaven. That's what Zeta tubes are for, Babs." He forced a cheery look. "Don't be such a pessimistic and think the worse will happen. You can't get rid of me _that_ easily."

And although Batgirl nodded in affirmation, and despite Nightwing's smile, they both knew that there was a chance that his move to another city would push them further apart.

They didn't like it one bit.

* * *

Lois Lane was rather peeved at her boyfriend for not telling her his secret. She had figured that since dating his alter ego _and_ him—_separately_—that he would trust her enough with such vital information. But then there was the "I don't want to put you in danger" speech that Superman always gave her, usually _after_ he rescued her from the aforementioned danger that _she_ put herself in.

After all, being placed on the _in_ team of the Justice League would've been beneficial on both their parts. Not only could she provide articles that could boost their reputations (during their bad times) or explain the unexplainable to cover their actions—if needed—but she would be at the head of her game, being one of the few journalists that the Justice League trusted.

Not that they don't trust her already, of course. She's usually the second (behind Clark) to be contacted when it came to Batman or Superman's publicity. A woman named Iris West-Allen from Central was the go-to for the Flash or either of the Green Lanterns and so long as the redhead stayed in her own territory, Lois didn't have a problem with her.

Clark's constant disappearances at the sight of trouble coinciding with Superman's appearances, his inconsistent lies whenever she questioned where he disappeared off to for weeks or months at a time, and the sudden appearance of his long-lost brother, separated through the adoption processes when they were younger, just months after the debut of Superboy—Lois scolded herself for not being able to see through the thick glasses before.

And if he _had_ told her his identity, he could've just _flown_ her into Luthor's office rather than have her sneak through the back door (after knocking out a security guard with her brick-filled purse).

"Hey, are you on your break now?" A worker asked another.

Lois narrowed her eyes at the door behind them as she hid around the corner. Curse Luthor for not accepting any of the interviews she requested—demanded.

Once the suited men left, Lois quickly made her way through the hall, eyes darting back and forth between the doors and searching for the one with the gold plaque out front.

"Should've called Superboy..." she muttered to herself. He could've helped her find her way through this large corporate mess. Then again, knowing Luthor, he probably designed the building to be a maze to confuse others from finding his own office.

"It would explain why his office gets blown up so much," she said out loud, just as she found another dead end. Groaning, Lois turned around, only to find herself facing two armed guards and a woman she had the pleasure of meeting once—Mercy, she recalled the woman's name.

"Stop where you are," one guard yelled as he and the other guard held their weapons up.

Mercy, on the other hand, looked calm as always as she stood in between the two.

Lois gulped and placed one step back, feeling the wall on the edge of her heel. "Well," she started, "If you'll excuse me, I'll just be on my way…"

The guards hadn't budged.

"Actually, I was hoping you could show me around—I'm supposed to meet up with Lex Luthor? You know, your boss?" Lois could already sense what was going to occur—this scene had happened to her too many times to count. Hopefully her boss, Perry, won't mind dealing with another trespassing charge this time. "Cause he specifically requested for me here. You wouldn't want to get into trouble, especially if Lex found out his time was wasted because of this...Damn," she muttered the last word.

The woman in front of her hadn't budged. Rather, Mercy did a nod, and the two guards ran up to Lois, both grabbing her by the arms.

_Damn it_, the reporter thought, just as she was dragged away. And this time, there was no Superman to fly her away from trouble. At the thought, Lois reminded herself to actually confront Clark about his capes and tights hobby, tossing aside the bet she placed with Conner years ago.

Like she always told herself, if the League would just let her into their posse, both parties would benefit.

And most of all, if Lois had been accepted by the Justice League, she would have recognized the woman leaving Lex Luthor's office as she was being dragged away.

.

* * *

**A/N**: Please review!

And here's the update on clues:  
_The main (wo)man behind this_: **1)** Is rich,** 2)** Contacted Selina Kyle and _someone else_ to do the dirty work of publicizing the scandal, **3)** _Knows_ the existence of the team, **4)** Might know Dick's and Barbara's identities or are just using them to distract the team, **5)** Possible computers expert, **6)** Suspected to be Lex Luthor who is currently meeting with some woman.

_Henchman #1: Selina Kyle_: **1)** Was persuaded by an offer to donate to a shelter, **2)** Is therefore understood by the main culprit

_Henchman #2: Unknown_: **1)** Using _Kylie Nales_ as an alias, **2)** Has no apparent accent, **3)** Supposedly a woman (unknown if this is faked or not), **4)** Possible computers expert, **5)** In charge of spreading the rumours

While it might seem like I'm just throwing Lex Luthor and Lois Lane in here randomly, they _do_ have roles in this story. Though whether Lex actually the one behind the scandal or not..you'll have to see. ;)


	15. Chapter 14

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: The idea of the media popularizing the thought of Dick and Barbara getting married was originally from **GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titans story: "Drive By Media." I have asked permission to use it for my own YJ story. All copyrighted characters also do not belong to me.  
**Words**: 3,400+  
**Notes**: Thank you for the kind reviews/favs/alerts. I just recently read YJ Comic #25 (my favourite so far, and if you haven't read it, read it!). Anyway, I realized how different the relationship is for Dick and Barbara in canon than in this story...so let's just ignore canon for now xD

**X-X-X-**

_And most of all, if Lois had been accepted by the Justice League, she would have recognized the woman leaving Lex Luthor's office as she was being dragged away. _

Dick wasn't quite sure if he was being punished for something he did, or if he had some bad mojo on his head from a previous life or whatnot, but having had to sit through hours at Wayne Industries, and then suffer through the same corporate nonsense now at the Batcave (with the recording from LuthorCorp) was a _definite_ method of torture.

"Having fun?" Barbara asked as she stepped into the room.

Dick groaned out loud and rubbed his tired eyes. "I hate stocks," he said. "I hate stocks more than anything in the world."

It had been two days since their last meeting with Superboy and Miss Martian back at Mount Justice. With Tim sitting through a mandatory summer course of school during the day (to prepare for his advanced classes, of course) as well as Dick's and Barbara's jobs, and patrol at night, the majority of them hadn't had much time to go through all of the information from Lex's company.

"It's a good thing I brought this then," she said, to which Dick turned around.

His face shone with glee, taking the mug from her hands. He took a whiff of the drink with a satisfied look to his face. "Mmm...Liquid gold. I missed you at lunch today," he told the coffee. He looked over towards the girl next to him. "Thanks, Babs. You're the best."

Barbara rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile.

He blew onto the drink a few times before bringing himself to actually drink it, satisfied in the end that it didn't burn his tongue.

The two momentarily stared at the screen, soaking in every word that came out of Lex's mouth along with his employees.

Dick didn't like it—what he was doing—since it was considered _spying_ on a rival company, which was unfair and technically _cheating_. What he was hearing now, how could he _not _remember it during his next meeting at Wayne Industries? How could he come up with original ideas to profit for his family company without involving all of the information he was learning now?

His mouth formed a line as he continued to think. It was _his_ bug that he stuck onto the walls of LexCorp years ago, and it was _his_ choosing to hack into the security systems now, but what else could he do other than send the squads into the building without reason? Bruce would've gone through with this method anyway, choosing the safer and far more logical option. But he wasn't Bruce…

"_The point is you're becoming more and more like Bruce!"_

Barbara's words from their argument rang in his head, and although Dick originally thought it was purposely aimed at him, considering she knew of his slight fear of becoming the man he idolized as a child, the thought lingered in his head more than he would have liked. Just like her calling him a playboy back at the cave stuck to his thoughts like glue and annoyed him more than any other media portrayal of him. Those thoughts stuck to him like any one of her opinions. Just like her.

But he didn't understand why; he usually never allowed these things to get wrapped up in his brain like this.

The former Boy Wonder narrowed his eyes towards her direction. She was soaking herself into the information on the screen, having taken out her reading glasses and analyzing every bit of data she could; he could still see the baby blue eyes behind those thick frames.

He was glad that she became Batgirl and was allowed a place on the team by Batman. She was observant, and surprisingly a natural at hacking—he was quite jealous, back when he was Robin, at her computer skills since that was _his_ thing.

But, he thought with a slight smile, Barbara was _always_ good at everything. That's what amazed him the most about her. She never hesitated to call him out on anything either—it got to the point where the _team_ thought he was whipped—but he didn't care. He liked that about her. Ever since they were little, she was the only one who dared to talk to him—the circus orphan, the richest kid in Gotham, the nerd-turned-most popular kid in school. Dick liked that her attitude towards him never changed despite how much his outward appearance or status amongst the school population and on the team did. He liked—

"What are you doing?"

Her voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and after raising his chin from the coffee mug, he questioned her with furrowed brows.

She gave a sly smile. "You were staring at me, Dick. I'm flattered, really," she said, "but we have a company to expose." She nodded over towards the bald headed man's image on the screen. "What were you thinking about anyway?"

Dick stammered on his words and he could feel the heat rising to his cheeks before he cleared his throat. He set the mug down on the side and said the first thing that came to mind.

"Just…What you said the other day," he told her.

"Explain."

He paused the LexCorp surveillance tape and rolled his office chair in her direction so that they were closer.

"You don't…You don't really think I'm becoming like Bruce, do you? I mean, there's nothing wrong with being him; he's great! But when we argued the other day…" He could see her stiffen as she did whenever they recalled an argument.

The redhead remained silent at first, looking him up and down to study him. She, with her legs crossed, turned on her chair so that her body faced him; she took off her glasses.

"You... _do_ take after him," she admitted, "but you grew up with him, so that's a given. You're as similar to him as any kid with their parent or guardian, but…that doesn't mean you're identical to him." She paused, pressed her lips together, and said: "You're both genuine and I don't mean Bruce. I mean both you and Nightwing. Both personas are real whereas with Bruce…it's a bit of half and half, where only a part of Batman is real and a part of Bruce Wayne is real—only the ones who are close to him really know who he is. But with you, everyone knows what kind of person you are with or without the mask."

Barbara's smile grew larger as Dick gave her a bright, cheery grin.

"Thanks, Babs," he said before turning back to his work—she did the same.

Her words remained in his thoughts though, as they always did. He liked that about her. How she always knew what to say, regardless of whether she would say it outright or yell at him. He liked how she took her work seriously just like she was doing right now. He liked how she always made him feel better even before she knew about his superhero persona. He liked—

"You're doing it again," Barbara called out, despite not shifting her position from watching the screen. She gave an amused smile though.

He liked a lot of things about her.

* * *

Batgirl rubbed her temples as Conner explained what had happened to Lois several days prior. The reporter had the gall to sneak into Lex's office _before_ Nightwing even instructed Conner to get her involved and managed to get herself kicked out and scolded by her boss for getting another trespassing charge. So much for getting Lois involved, she thought, then turned to Nightwing who donned a frown on his face.

"I _need_ to find that footage," Nightwing said as he pressed onto various buttons on his gauntlet. He stopped though when Batgirl placed a hand onto his wrist computer with a displeased expression.

"_Now_'s not the time, Wing. We're out one spy and distraction for Luthor, and we're running out of time. We still don't know if he should even be on the suspect list in the first place or if his name coincidentally was included on the wedding invite list along with the other big-city corporate bosses. " Before Batgirl could continue, she was interrupted by the entrance of M'gann in the room.

The Martian, however, looked more upset than her teammates.

"Is something wrong, M'gann?" Conner asked, concerned.

Batgirl watched as M'gann nervously avoided looking in her direction, choosing to speak to Nightwing directly. "Uh, well I was just watching the entertainment networks with the others and…" The alien paused, and carefully changed her focus to the other redhead, "I don't think you're going to like what's happening."

Confused, they departed the monitor room and made their way to the living room where the team was crowded around the TV as per usual.

"_Is Barbara Gordon a lying thief?"_

"_Sources say she _forced_ the engagement between her and Richard Grayson, going as far as blackmail—"_

"—_Commissioner Gordon was _stuck_ with her after her mother's death. He didn't want her at all."_

She could feel the heat rise to her face at the mention of her father. Sure, she had been used to the negative comments by now but she hated it when they brought her father in—not to mention her late mother too.

Leave it to the media to make an excuse out of everything in her life. She watched as the screen continued with their theories, cautious of Nightwing's concerned look on her in the corner of her eyes.

"_Former students of Gotham Academy claim Gordon manipulated Grayson in order to get into his social circle…"_

"—_wanted the money due to Commissioner Gordon's massive debt—needed to fund for her education at the academy so that she would get closer to Grayson—"_

Suddenly, the TV screen shut off and everyone turned to face Nightwing.

"I want each of you in the training room _now_!" He commanded, enraged at the recent scandal. "From now on, _no one_ is allowed to use the TV at the mountain." He tossed the remote aside and turned around, ignoring all pleas.

"Nightwi—" Batgirl didn't finish, as her partner stomped out and towards the monitor room. She knew he was already making phone calls to defend her honour—that's what he always did, after all. The redhead turned to see Conner, M'gann and Robin; all three were shocked by his sudden burst of anger. She sighed.

"Do you think you guys could deal with the team? I'll go talk to him," Batgirl said, earning nods from the senior members.

After she got to the monitor room, the first thing she saw was Nightwing arguing over the phone. When hand gestures weren't enough to get him to stop yelling at the person on the other line, she fiddled with the computers, sending happy faces to his gauntlet. She gave him a weak smile when he finally finished with the phone.

"Wing…" She started just as he wrapped his arms around her. "You know this isn't my first time going through all this." Batgirl could feel the weight increasing along her shoulders. It wasn't so much as a hug—more like her supporting his weight as he needed something to lean onto, or in this case, _someone_. Surprisingly, she didn't mind the closeness.

"It's not fair though," he mumbled into her hair. "You're not _supposed _to be used to this. You don't deserve this at all, Babs."

"Do I have to remind you how strong I am, Pixie Boots? I can handle them—" She gulped and hoped he didn't notice. "Even with the comments about my parents. And it's not going to last forever. It'll be over soon enough, right?"

Nightwing finally lifted his face, an honest apology written across it along with a small, sympathetic smile. "But how will you ever find a husband after all this? They're going to think you're an abusive gold-digger."

Batgirl sighed. "Well I won't be able to find one if I keep having to lug you around like this." She ran her thumb along his cheekbones and the edge of his mask. "You're too cute," she mentioned with a nod of her head, earning a grin; his arms slid down to her waist and tightened their grip. "I think all the other guys would be jealous. So I guess you're the root of all my problems then—I'm going to have to unfriend you, Wing."

He parted his lips, but then Batgirl widened her eyes in shock.

"That was a _joke_, Nightwing," she said, placing a hand behind his neck to keep him from looking away from her. "Don't you ever consider doing that."

Finally, he cracked a grin.

"Wow, a joke—you should do that more often instead of being so serious all the time," he said. "It makes you much more attrac—"

The door suddenly slid open, and both Batgirl and Nightwing turned.

Batgirl raised a brow, wondering why Cassie was as red as her own pants, or why she was hovering backwards slowly. _That_ was when she realized she was still in Nightwing's arms. Pushing him away from her, Batgirl gave a sincere smile while he acted nonchalantly on the side.

"Hey, Cassi—"

"I'M SORRY!" The girl yelled. "I didn't mean to—uh—boss, I'm sorry if I ruined the moment—I, uh…" The blonde fumbled on her words before finally, she stuck her arm out, hesitant to pass the item in her hand to Batgirl.

"Conner and M'gann were busy, so I thought I should give this to you! It's, um, just something I wanted to give to Dick Grayson, but do you think you could do it, Batwing—I mean, Nightgirl—No wait, um… boss?"

Batgirl took the letter from Cassie's hand. From the corner of her eyes, Batgirl could see Nightwing pressing his lips together to smother his laughter, and she tried her best not to be so amused by Cassie's nervousness. "Sure thing, Cassie. We'll make sure he gets it, right Nightwing?"

The leader nodded, still pressing his lips together.

"Thank you!" Cassie said excitedly. "I'll…leave you guys now. Sorry again!"

With that, the pair watched as Wonder Girl flew away from the room, and to Batgirl's displeasure, she was calling out for Karen's name.

The redhead shut the door. "Well, there goes any hope of denying our relationship with the team," she muttered, barely missing the frown on Nightwing's face. Instead of questioning it though, she handed him Cassie's letter. "Mr. Grayson, I think you have fanmail."

"Thank you, _Batgirl_…"

"What is it now?"

"Just thinking about what Cassie just called us. _Nightgirl_ sounds so much better, don't you think?"

"It _really_ doesn't," she deadpanned. "What did she want to tell you anyway?"

Nightwing shrugged, opening the letter in his hand.

Batgirl watched as he skimmed through the letter quickly, raising his brow at the baby-blue paper. He proceeded to muster a smile and slide the letter back into his pocket.

"Don't tell me it was an _actual _fangirl letter, Nightwing—was it? Cassie's not that obsessed with you…She couldn't—_shouldn't_."

"There's nothing wrong with being so wooed by me, BG…Unless you're jealous?"

"Jealous of the fact that you have more fans than I do? Trust me, Wing, I'm good without them."

He shook his head. "Jealous of Cassie, I mean. After all, she's got the guts to admit her feelings to me, while you're still—" He leaned in towards her with a smirk gracing his lips. "—in denial."

Batgirl cocked an eyebrow just as his face inched towards hers yet again. "Yes, I'm still in denial with the fact that I'm friends with someone like you."

Nightwing pouted his lips. "Awe, don't be so—"

"_Oh my God_!"

The pair turned around, both wondering _why_ in the world the team kept interrupting them—where were M'gann and Conner?

"I _knew _it! No more pretending, Batgirl! You two _are_ together!" Karen accused with a pointed finger. "I _knew_ that kiss from last time wasn't a fluke. Dang, girl. Why'd you have to wait until Cassie caught you two?"

Batgirl's jaw dropped. "W-Wait, Karen! It's—" She pushed Nightwing away from her. "I told you before, it's not what it looks like—don't go telling the team." She watched as Karen pranced away mischievously. "Hey, wait! I'll catch you later, Wing," she called out from behind before leaving the monitor room.

* * *

Nightwing watched as the redhead ran out of the room, chasing after the dark skinned girl in attempt to prevent any rumours. While he agreed that both he and Batgirl didn't need any more gossip plaguing their lives, he was honestly disappointed with what had just happened. He could feel her hand pushing against his chest just now when Karen showed, keeping him a distance away from her.

She must have been really annoyed by the paparazzi, if she was always bothered with the idea of being in a relationship with him, he figured.

With nothing else to do, he pursed his lips, and pulled out Cassie's letter again for a reread.

_To: Dick Grayson,_

_My name's Wonder Girl. I'm a big fan of yours, just as everyone else is on the team. Thank you for giving us an autographed picture by the way! We have it hanged up here at our HQ._

He smiled. Even on paper, Cassie sounded optimistic and excited about everything.

_I just wanted to say that when I started out on the team, I had a lot of trouble fitting in. I mean, the people here are great, but there was so much stuff going on, we didn't have enough time to get to know each other. _

_When we saw you on TV, it was a special broadcast of when you went back to Haly's Circus, and we were all mesmerised by your acrobatic skills! It was that moment when the girls and I bonded. I was so happy, because I didn't think I would be able to fit in with the team. It was already enough pressure being the protégée of Wonder Woman. _

_So what I wanted to say was that I hope the media doesn't pressure you too much, and even if they are, you can get over it! Things will brighten up with time just like it did with me. And I know I may not know you personally, but I've heard from Miss Martian and Superboy that you're really kind-hearted, and I believe them._

_I've seen the way you look at Barbara Gordon from all those footages on TV, and you seem to really care and love her. I hope that you didn't end your engagement because of the reporters. You two deserve a lifetime of happiness! _

_Thanks again!_

—_Wonder Girl._

Nightwing smiled earnestly, appreciative of his teammate's words. He place the letter back into the pocket of his suit just as Batgirl stepped back into the room.

"Well the team officially thinks we're together thanks to Cassie and Karen," she stated, with an annoyed sigh.

'_I've seen the way you look at Barbara…'_

He nodded half-heartedly, wondering what Cassie meant by the way he looked at her. He'd always looked at her that way, he supposed—was there something special about it?

But then again, Barbara _was_ a pretty special person, Nightwing thought. She was one of the greatest people he knew and he honestly didn't know where he'd be if he had never met her. She especially didn't deserve all the negative feedback she got whenever she so much as appears in public with him—he wanted to make it up to her.

"So what's the plan now?" Batgirl asked. "M'gann and Conner just finished their training sessions with the others."

He stared at her and couldn't help but grin.

"Well we don't need M'gann or Conner for the next step." He paused and without much thought, blurted out: "Let's take a break tomorrow."

"What? We're already running short on time. Do you think spending a whole _day _doing frivolous activities is a good idea?"

"It's not frivolous…We can watch a movie and get some dinner or something."

She turned to face him. "You know, this is starting to sound like one of your dates with those girls of yours."

"It's only a date if you want it to be one. You can even stop by my place too, once the night's over…" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Cute…But don't you think the paparazzi deserve a break too? We've been a part of their lives for a month now."

"You worry too much, Batgirl," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing it gently. "I have everything planned."

Batgirl was silent and expressionless at first. But then, after some thought, she finally nodded with a placid smile, which relieved Nightwing considerably.

He was amused at the thought of taking Barbara out on a date and truthfully, he couldn't wait.

.

* * *

**A/N:** Please do not favourite/alert without a review! The paparazzi will only get more and more vicious if you don't :(

And here's the clues, though there wasn't actually any development for the mystery in this chapter.  
_The main (wo)man behind this_: **1)** Is rich,** 2)** Contacted Selina Kyle and _someone else_ to do the dirty work of publicizing the scandal, **3)** _Knows_ the existence of the team, **4)** Might know Dick's and Barbara's identities or are just using them to distract the team, **5)** Possible computers expert, **6)** Suspected to be Lex Luthor who had met with some woman.

_Henchman #1: Selina Kyle_: **1)** Was persuaded by an offer to donate to a shelter, **2)** Is therefore understood by the main culprit

_Henchman #2: Unknown_: **1)** Using _Kylie Nales_ as an alias, **2)** Has no apparent accent, **3)** Supposedly a woman (unknown if this is faked or not), **4)** Possible computers expert, **5)** In charge of spreading the rumours


	16. Chapter 15

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: The idea of the media popularizing the thought of Dick and Barbara getting married was originally from **GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titans story: "Drive By Media." I have asked permission to use it for my own YJ story. All copyrighted characters also do not belong to me.  
**Words**: 3,800+ (I swear, these chapters are getting longer and longer)  
**Notes**: You guys are _wonderful_. Your reviews cheered me up so, so, _so_ much. Like, I love you all. For seriously.

**X-X-X-**

_He was amused at the thought of taking Barbara out on a date, but truthfully? He couldn't wait._

Nightwing was eager. Enthusiastic even, as he blissfully typed away on his wrist computer, carefully laying out the plans he insisted he already had taken care of earlier on with Barbara.

He could hear a few whispers coming from behind, each teammate asking Robin why Nightwing was grinning so widely when he was so furious at the news earlier that morning. Robin didn't know, but if he had been as mischievous as Nightwing was back when he was younger, he could've attempted to hack into the older teammate's computer system.

For a while now, Nightwing's meetings with Barbara had been more and more mission related than anything. They used to go out occasionally for lunch or dinner, just to catch up on things, but school and work had kept them busy. Even after their graduation, the League's mission made them even busier, so Nightwing was eager to have the entire day to himself and the redhead without team related interruptions.

It wasn't as though they only saw each other at Happy Harbour or in the Batcave. They still attempted their daily coffee breaks together, though that never lasted long because of the lineups and tight schedules. Most times, they would pass each other a glance while in line for coffee and then move on with their busy lives. When they _did _get the opportunity to sit down and talk though, there wouldn't be a second he didn't enjoy.

So when the rumour broke out that the two were engaged, Nightwing was actually _excited_ to see more of his friend outside of the cave (back when he didn't think so many unfortunate events would happen). He would never admit that to her though, not while staying in the same country as her; the redhead would probably start formulating ideas of him being brainwashed or blackmailed and most likely assume that it was _he_ who started the rumour—which he did _not_.

He wanted tomorrow's day to be perfect. He wanted Barbara to be _happy_ and not feel dejected from the idiots at the paparazzi-factory, who eyed for non-existent baby bumps and love affairs which were bound to happen with _his_ streak of girls.

By now, his head was going into overdrive, as he laid out the plans for after lunch and hitting towards nightfall. Despite being the romantic he was, he had never actually put _this_ much thought –and he _always_ put in a lot of thought – into his dates with his past girlfriends before. Not that Barbara was his girlfriend, but he felt that she deserved that day more than any of his exes did.

The other problem he had was the idea of moving to Blüdhaven. He had already called several real estate agents in the past month, juggling the task of apartment hunting along with dealing with Wayne Industries and the team, and he knew Bruce would be back soon. But if he was to move, then what Barbara told him the other day bothered him even more: he wouldn't see her as much outside of the team.

Of course, there were the Zeta tubes which made travelling much more efficient, but even Wally, a friend who was placed in the same ranking as Barbara in his friend-system, rarely visited since entering college. And that's what they would be doing after he left Gotham: both he and Barbara would be going to college—in separate cities.

It made tomorrow even more special. It would be one of their last get-togethers, much to his displeasure. Maybe if they lived in the same city, or went to the same college like Wally and Artemis did, they would see each other.

Nightwing shook his head in disbelief at what just crossed his mind; the others in the corner of his eyes stared at him curiously before turning their attention elsewhere.

Wally's case was a completely different situation. Artemis was Wally's _girlfriend_ while Barbara was _just_ a friend. There was no way he could ask Barbara to switch colleges, or stay in the same apartment as him and Zeta tube to her school each day—that was crossing the border between best friends and significant others, a line which the team oddly assumed he was going to cross with Wally a number of years ago; Nightwing shuddered at the thought.

He sighed. _If only she was my girlfriend_, he thought with an amused chuckle, _then that would give us enough reason to actually see each other more often after I move_.

_Batgirl: B-1-6_

He looked over towards the entrance of the mountain. He watched as she went into the room while giving him a smile, which he could distinguish between the one she gave the other teammates. She had just come back from work; he could tell by the way she dressed—just a simple shirt and pair of dark pants. Nothing too formal was needed for the library and it was technically her temp job.

She was speaking to the other girls when her eyelids lowered and the corners of her lips pulled into an all-knowing smirk the moment she realized he was staring at her.

Nightwing was blatantly aware of the risen speed of his heartbeats.

_If only_.

* * *

"Suspended! Suspended! Could you believe him? Perry had the nerve to suspend _me_?" Lois turned to the young male sitting across from her.

Conner had been sitting at Clark's desk for the past twenty minutes, wrapped up in the book his _older brother_ had been reading before his months-long trip to the Tropical Rainforest, or wherever he claimed to be. Similar to Clark, Lois noted that Conner had his head tilted away from her direction, which created a frown on her face.

"You know if your superhearing bothers you that badly, you _could_ get one of your high tech support crews at the Hall of Justice to create some ear buds for you," she suggested and his eyes peered to her, face still pointing at the book.

"Or you could calm down," the young adult said, ignoring the furious look on Lois's face. Finally, Conner placed the book down. "Metropolis is a busy city, Lois. If Clark could get used to living here with you, then I shouldn't have a problem with my superhearing."

The reporter tossed her recorder to the side of the room. "What do you mean _with me_? I am not that loud, kid!" She got up to straighten out her black pencil skirt and marched over to the opened window, where she could see the large globe circling on top of the Daily Planet—where she _should've_ been right now had she not trespassed LexCorp.

"Also, if you want to be a reporter like Clark—"

"I didn't say I wan—"

"—then you might as well get your facts right: I don't _live_ with Smallville. I just happen to have a lot of stuff here, because…Well, you know—unless Cadmus didn't supply you with that sort of information…"

Conner frowned, and gave Lois a disturbed face. Rubbing his temples, he gave a slight growl. "So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about? I'm supposed to be investigating LexCorp right now—_covertly_."

The brunette ignored the added emphasis on the word. "You really do have Lex's temper, you know that? So much for getting the better genes," she muttered while pulling out the piece of paper from the desk drawer. "Here."

Conner's blue eyes scanned across the yellow parchment given to him, brows furrowed at the sight of the scribbled notes. "What's this?"

"A _to-do_ list," Lois said proudly with a wide grin and her hands on her hips. "I snagged it off of one of the guard's pockets while he was dragging me out of LexCorp. It also includes a list of events Lex has planned. How's that for covert, Superkid?"

He picked it up from the desk, skimming the details, which consisted of minor chores, until he reached to a specific date.

_TO DO:_

_August 26: Meet up with Suzy at diner; bring flowers_

_August 27: Pick up laundry_

_August 28: 47 First Street; meet MG; 6:45PM; bring essentials._

_August 28_. His eyes widened in shock.

"This is…This was the day of the wedding!"

Lois nodded excitedly, turning at the point of her heels to dig into the drawers again. "I also have a few recordings and mapped out drawings of things I noticed in the past few interviews with Luthor. Maybe Nightwing can fi—kid?"

Spinning around, she looked at her boyfriend's clone, hunched over and struggling to move.

"Whoa, whoa, Conner, Con! Hey, can you hear me?" She ran over to him, patting onto his hard back and watched, wide eyed, as he started to wheeze into the palm of his hand. Realizing that her pats weren't working, she ran to the kitchen and filled a glass with water, hurrying back to the coughing boy.

His coughs eventually died out, and he accepted the glass from Lois's hand.

"T-Than-nks," he struggled to say, before washing his throat down.

"_What_ was that?" Lois questioned, still slightly frantic. "I have _never_ seen Clark sneeze or cough once—not even after losing a crumb of bread down the wrong air hole." She ran her hand up and down his back.

But Conner didn't reply right away, merely running his sweaty fingers through his hair. He shrugged and looked out of the window.

"Maybe it's the city air," he casually stated, but narrowed his eyes at the corporate building not too far off from Clark's apartment.

* * *

Barbara muttered incoherent words under her breath as she tossed hanger after hanger over her shoulders, then turned to take another look at the clothes she threw onto her bed. She was frustrated. Usually, she would put on a simple tee and a pair of jeans whenever she hung out with Dick, but he had made _such_ a big deal out of their break today that it had gotten to the point where the redhead simply didn't know what to wear. According to Robin, he had spent all yesterday figuring out their plans for tonight, which made things even worse.

She didn't exactly know why he was stressing so much about today, but assumed it had something to do with the paparazzi—he most likely felt guilty, which she thought was ridiculous. What was also ridiculous was the fact that he wouldn't tell her where they were going, making her attire somewhat difficult to choose.

Dick had taken her to fancy restaurants in the past (causing catastrophic results in the next day's paper), but he had also taken her to paintball arenas too. Without knowing where exactly Barbara was going with him, she couldn't actually decide on what to wear.

After the first hour of going through her closet was over, Barbara heaved a sigh. She pulled out her sunglasses and laptop.

"Karen?" She called out, after the girl on the receiving end answered her computer call.

"Batgirl? Where are yo—is that your room?!" Karen moved her head, trying to see past the redhead. "Dang girl, I didn't think you were _that_ messy."

Barbara refrained from rolling her eyes, but eyed cautiously at her doorway. "Uh, do you think you could refer to me as _BG_, rather than my heroine name…I'm not supposed to be contacting you from here."

"Okay, _BG_. What's up?"

"Er," she began, elongating the syllable. Normally in the heat of a fashion crisis, she would call Bette Kane (considering the time zone differences with Artemis), but due to what had been on the news lately, she'd rather not. "I kind of need help."

Karen's face on the laptop screen looked at Barbara, confused. "With?"

Moving away from the front of the screen, Barbara revealed her mess of a closet, with hangers and clothes strewn along the floor and closet handle.

"I need an outfit. For a date tonight," Barbara mentioned cautiously, waiting for the befuddled and then excited noise that came from Karen's mouth.

"You mean, you and," she paused to mouth the next name: "_Nightwing_?"

Barbara gave her a look. "No, it's with a guy from high school," she explained.

Karen raised a brow. "Didn't you and the boss go to the same school?"

The redhead couldn't help but grin, shaking her head at her friend's insistences—she wasn't even going to try to figure out how Karen knew that. "It's not the boss, Karen. Now are you going to help me with this, or not?"

"Fine, fine. Have it your way, BG," Karen said, leaning back into her office chair, and amplifying the room behind her—she was in her dorm room, and Barbara could see mountains of biology and chemistry textbooks piled up behind the darker skinned girl.

Grabbing a few hangers from her closet, Barbara held them close to her bodice. "Well I don't know what kind of date it is," she said, looking down at the clothes held in front of her. "He said he wanted it to be a surprised." She already had a feeling Dick only said that because even _he_ didn't know what they were going to do.

The view of Karen suddenly got bigger, the moment she leaned towards her camera to study the clothes. "Hmm, the boss sure is romantic, isn't he?" She murmured.

Barbara rolled her eyes, unseen by Karen due to the sunglasses. "I'm _not_ going out with the boss," she insisted, considering that the boss was _Nightwing_ and she was with going to be with _Dick_, and in terms of definition, she wasn't _going out_ with him either.

Karen gave her a small frown. "Shame—we could've double dated. La'gaan's not the type to go out in public, even with M'gann's pleas."

Barbara snorted, bending down so that she could grab a shirt off of the floor. She held it along her body again. "Is that the only reason why you wanted Wing and I to hook up so badly?"

The other girl shook her head at the choice of clothes before explaining, "Girl, have you _seen_ you two? You fight like a married couple, you flirt like a pair of teenagers, you know everything about each other… He may be our leader, but we both know who wears the pants in your supposedly non-existent relationship." She stopped to point at the shirt held in Barbara's left arm. "Keep that and see if you have a skirt to go with it," she suggested, and then added: "I mean, is he even in a relationship?"

Barbara placed most of the hangers down, and turned to her closet to find a skirt. "No, he's not."

"Are you in one –and don't call this _date_ of yours tonight your boyfriend. I _know_ I would've heard about him a lot sooner if he was."

She paused her actions in the closet, lowering herself down from her tippy toes and stared off to the corner of her room. "No," she said hesitantly.

"Then why aren't you two together?"

She turned to the laptop screen. "Because we're _friends_."

"And so were Mal and I." Karen crossed her arms triumphantly.

"Not all friends hook up in the end," Barbara objected. "And not all relationships end well."

"Wally and Artemis."

"Conner and M'gann," she deadpanned.

"….Fine. But they didn't have much time to build their friendship before they dated. What you and Nightwing have though," Karen mentioned with a pointed finger. "You two _understand_ each other. Nothing will come as a big surprise if you two go out – who knows, maybe you'll actually grow even closer."

Barbara dropped her arms to clear the view between her and Karen's face. "But what if it doesn't, Karen? What if we _do_ end up together but it ends up like M'gann's and Conner's _relationship_? Do you see those two? They can barely look at each other in the eye unless it's mission related and they have to!"

Unexpected by Barbara's sudden outburst, the girl on the other line gaped at her, lips slightly parted. Finally, after a moment of silence where only Barbara was heard shuffling through her closet, Karen added: "So clearly you _have_ thought about it. You're just scared of what might happen."

"No, I haven't," she called from the closet, folding up clothes she had forgotten about and tossing them to the corner of her room. "And I will _never_ think about it. Our relationship is strictly platonic." She turned to the screen to hold up another outfit, which Karen rejected with a swift shake of her head.

"BG, just what is it about him that makes you so scared of considering a relationship in the future? Does he secretly run a street gang? Is he crazy? Or is he one of those guys who prefer cougars—girl, don't tell me he swings the other way, because I've seen his exes—" She stopped. "Oh…It's his _exes._"

"Really, Karen?" Barbara gulped, briefly glancing at the mirror on the side of her room—she wasn't flushing, and she was sure she controlled the emotion on her face; she had no idea how Karen got that assumption.

"You're scared you won't live up to them." There was a slight twist on the edge of Karen's lips, as if she was proud of herself for digging the information out of Barbara.

"I'm not worried I won't live up to them, I…"

"You, what? Just exactly _what _are you worried about?"

"Okay," Barbara said with a sigh. She dropped all of her clothes onto her bed next to the laptop. Kneeling down onto the carpeted floor, she faced Karen. "_Assuming _that I was interested, which I'm _not_, I don't want to be _another_ one of his girlfriends, Karen. He's dated half the women in the League, and in real life, he's dated _so _many more. I don't want to be _one of them_."

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe he's just another guy looking for _the one_? Just because the boss goes out with a lot of girls doesn't make him a player or _manwhore_."

Barbara grimaced at the word.

"He doesn't seem the type to use girls—but I wouldn't know." She paused. "You _would_ though, BG. You're the one who knows him best. Would the boss be the kind of guy who picks up a girl for one night of fun, and then ditch her the next day?"

"No, I don't think so…" She became silent.

Truthfully, Barbara didn't know. She never pried on Dick with his relationship details, only hearing a thing or two from the news stations every time he was in one. It wasn't her business to question him about it though, and frankly, there had been too many for her to care for. The only thing she was there for was to cheer him up when the relationships went sour, and stay by him until he found another girl.

She started to distract herself from the thought by pulling out another outfit from her dresser.

"Then at least _try_!" Karen continued.

Barbara closed her eyes momentarily before adjusting her attention away from the dress. "It doesn't matter, Karen. I _don't_ want to be in a relationship with him, his exes don't bother me, and I _need_ to get ready. So here," she placed the article of clothing in front of her. "How does this look?"

"..Hmm, lose the sunglasses. I can't tell without knowing the colour of your eyes."

"_Karen_."

"I'm kidding. You'll look fabulous, BG—now remember to tell me how the date with this mystery man goes—and remember what I said about the boss!"

* * *

Barbara Gordon, in Dick's opinion, had always been pretty. He knew this fact ever since he was a little boy. It wasn't something that particularly stood out in his mind—it was just a fact, something that was just as obvious as three dimensional vector equations.

But on that evening, when his childhood best friend walked down the steps of Wayne Manor, ready to link her arm with his, _pretty_ hadn't even come close to describing her.

"Master Richard, if you could continue to gape at Miss Gordon elsewhere with_out_ drooling all over the floors, I would very much appreciate it," Alfred said with an all-knowing smile printed on his face.

Dick shrugged and stepped aside for Alfred to go through the hallway, eyes never leaving the redhead in front of him.

He didn't understand why he was so enthralled with her look. There was nothing new with her hair other than the slight curl, and he'd seen her in that black dress more than a dozen times. But while passing the –more than he would have liked—glance at her as she made her way towards him and to the dining room to grab her shawl, a devilish smile printed on her face, he couldn't help but realize how stunning she was.

Maybe it was because tonight, he finally had a chance of looking at her without something running in the back of his mind. He wasn't thinking about the team, or the scandal. He didn't have Batman's gear on him, or worrying about the company. He was just looking forward to their night.

She turned to him and the curls of her hair bounced in a classic move.

"Okay, I give up Dick," Barbara said. "You wouldn't let me hack into your computers, fine. But there is no restaurant in the entire city of Gotham that had reservations for us."

He gave her a grin. "You checked?" He knew she would. "You promised me you wouldn't check."

"Well how was I supposed to know what the dress code would be? Now please tell me where we're going so I can change into another set of clothes if I have to."

"We're going…" He paused to lift up his arm, pointing to the direction of their destination. "To the Batcave!"

"What?"

"You'll see," he said, guiding her. With his arm around her shoulder as it always was whenever they went out in public, he dipped his head down toward hers while the elevator took them down to the cave. "And just so you know," he whispered into her ear. "I think you look very beautiful tonight, Miss Gordon."

He loved the way her face brightened up.

.

* * *

**A/N:** Please review! The paparazzi are taking a break from ruining Barbara's life, but now something's going on in Metropolis and if you don't provide feedback, Conner's going to be in more pain! D:

On a side note, YJ's last episode screwed with my heart so much that I have a thousand and one ideas for Spitfire oneshots, which is going to seriously delay updates for this story. Well, that and my exams. Oh gosh, so many exams...So I'm just going to sneak in a tiny announcement about my **hiatus**...again.. At least until exams are over. At the end of April. I'm sorry :(

Also it seems that amongst you guys, Lex is no longer the ideal suspect, but _Bruce/Batman_. Hmm...We'll see about that. Others seem to be fervent on _Jason Todd, the entire Justice League, Ra's, someone from the Light _or _Alfred _(etc.) and earlier on, a lot of you thought it was _Dick/Babs_ from the future. No one seems to want to guess who Henchman #2 is though, so I'd really like to see what you guys think about that.


	17. Chapter 16

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: The idea of the media popularizing the thought of Dick and Barbara getting married was originally from **GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titans story: "Drive By Media." I have asked permission to use it for my own YJ story. All copyrighted characters also do not belong to me.  
**Words**: 4,500+  
**Notes**: Still on hiatus! I just had this chapter completed beforehand, and I felt bad for making you guys wait longer than necessary for an update.

**X-X-X-**

"_And just so you know," he whispered into her ear. "I think you look very beautiful tonight, Miss Gordon."_

_He loved the way her face brightened up._

"Are you sure we can afford to lose a day, Dick?" Barbara asked as they got to the cave. She slowed her steps the closer they got to the computers and the Zeta portal.

"Come on, Babs. It isn't so often that I get to take out the greatest girl in Gotham," Dick replied with a grin, then turned to the side of the room when he heard noises. "Hey, bud. Didn't know you were here."

Tim was already situated on the large chair in front of the computers. The boy eyed them curiously before turning back to his work. Then, without looking away from the screen, he said, "I'm going to head to the mountain in a few hours just in case you two stop at the manor later."

Barbara's tracks stopped momentarily, and she leered at the younger boy. "Tim, what exactly are you insinuating?"

"Nothing, Barbara," he said coolly, continuing to type on his keyboard, but there was a light blush spread across his cheeks.

She didn't miss his glance towards Dick though, before shaking her head. "You've been hanging out with Bruce and Dick too much."

"Hey, what's wrong with hanging out with me?" Dick asked from behind, to which no one responded.

Rather, Barbara pulled Dick's hand along to another set of doors with a hint of a smirk on her face. "Come on, Wonder boy. It's time to go," she said, though _where_ they were going, she wasn't exactly sure. She watched as he reset the location settings on his computer, before stepping into the Zeta portals herself, following after him.

_Nightwing: B-0-1_

_Batgirl: B-1-6_

When the two stepped out of the alleyway, Barbara's first instinct was to figure out _where_ they were. Clearly, it wasn't Gotham. There were no skyscrapers reaching for the bright blue skies, but instead, old fashion buildings of mediocre size, settling in just by the sunset horizon.

It was rush hour time, Barbara noted, seeing the traffic line of cars inching their ways through the intersection, but she didn't hear the familiar honking or whispers of crowded people. There were seagulls chirping about, and the occasional ringing of a restaurant door being opened. She could smell the ocean air, and tightened the shawl around her arms when a cool breeze embraced her.

She could guess what time zone they were in, and had a slight feeling she knew exactly where they were, but it wasn't until Dick led her to the front of the restaurant of his choosing that her suspicions were confirmed.

She raised a brow, though her amused look never faltered.

"Happy Harbour Diner, Dick?" She questioned, and turned to face him. "You've really outdone yourself this time." She was glad she didn't choose to wear anything fancier than her current spaghetti-strapped, black dress.

He replied with a chortle and proceeded to grab her hand, pulling her inside.

"For two, please," he told the waitress, who sat them down at a booth, passing them menus in the process.

"Hmm," Dick hummed, and Barbara looked up at him curiously from her menu. "They don't serve wine here, but I guess beer will do."

"It's not even noon yet and you want beer?" Barbara questioned.

"Huh, Babs, it's almost seven."

"In_ our_ time zone, it's barely lunch—unless you're trying to get me drunk already?"

He chuckled. "So much for my foolproof plan."

Once they placed their orders, the two set their menus aside. Barbara was the first to speak: "So what's the plan for tomorrow's team meeting? You know, I've been thinking that if we actually go through with the party, we should show up separately, since we're not enga—"

Dick waggled his finger at her. "Nuh-uh, this is our break, Babs. We're not going to talk about the team."

"Oh," was the sound she let out, and her face dropped as her earlier ideas were instantly flushed out of her mind. She gave him a sly look. "Is that so? Well then what are we going to talk about?"

"Hmm…" He thought out loud, before leaning back on the seat. With a flash of his teeth, he suggested, "How about your wedding scrapbook?"

"I thought you weren't talking about the mission," Barbara said.

"Yeah, but you created this _way_ before the mission ever started," he pointed out. He suddenly pushed his back off of the back of the booth and leaned in towards the girl sitting across from him with his elbows propped onto the table. "I just…I never pecked you to be a wedding fanatic. No offense, but you're not the girliest of girls and I _knew_ you when we were ten. You couldn't have possibly started organizing all this after you _met _me, right?"

"Don't get too excited there. I actually started planning weddings a little bit before I met you. The scrapbook just came later on."

"Really?" He sounded surprised. "Some other kid captured your heart before I had a chance? Babs, I wasn't the rebound guy, was I?"

"Of course you were," she said sarcastically.

Dick ignored it and waved a hand. "Okay, okay, so tell me. Why _weddings_?"

She was silent at first, playing around with the salt shaker in the middle of the table, counting how many crystalized granules there were on the ruby coloured tables. Finally, her eyes shot up to meet with Dick's and she let out a sigh.

"Well, I told you my parents were divorced before my mom died and my dad ended up getting custody of me," the redhead paused, carefully placing the saltshaker back in its original tray. She gave a hesitant smile and Dick seemed eager to hear the rest of the story.

"She actually spent a great deal trying to convince me that not all marriages were like that and that she'd find her own happily ever after eventually. _So, _I decided to plan it out for her, so when the wedding planning came for her and whoever she was eventually going to end up with, they wouldn't get too stressed out with the planning and fight with each other…like she and my dad did before they split."

She lowered her eyelids, adjusting her vision from Dick and suddenly realizing that the entire time, he had been holding onto her hand. Reminiscing about her mother was never a bright spot for her, but with a gulp, she managed to pull another smile, which evolved from a false one to a real sign of happiness when she looked up to Dick's face again.

"You know you're the first one I've ever told that too," she added. "Bette thought I was a fanatic like she was because of Disney."

"Nah, I figured Disney wouldn't have a role in the reason actually. Remember? Between the two of us, it was _you_ who was against the idea of watching anything in gown."

"I did find it a little odd that you wanted to watch _Beauty and the Beast_ and _Cinderella_."

"I was new to the city-life!" Dick objected. "I wanted to watch everything out ther—"

The waitress appeared with their orders in tow. The petite brunette set the plates down in front of the couple, only to return with their drinks a brief moment later. However, the moment she turned to head back to the kitchen, she caught a glimpse of her customers.

"…You're Richard Grayson…" She said in astonishment.

Barbara saw Dick freeze before hesitantly turning to the waitress.

"What? No, I'm no—"

"Which makes you Barbara Gordon!"

Suddenly, other customers and workers began perking their heads up, watching the shy couple in the booth and the waitress who was still exclaiming remarks.

"Oh my God, _Richard Grayson_ is in our diner!" She squealed.

"No, we're not, I think you've mistaken," Barbara tried to say, with a hand held in the air to calm the girl.

"Mr. Grayson, I'm a huge fan of yours!" She continued, again, further attracting more unnecessary attention.

Barbara turned to look at Dick, who seemed contemplative and unresponsive. His eyes were fixed on his food the entire time, ignoring the crowd that was drawing around them and the girl next to their table who continued to babble.

"What are you—" Barbara didn't finish, as Dick fished out a few bills from his wallet and set them onto the table.

"R…" he murmured to her, grabbing onto her hand from across the table.

Barbara whipped her head to face him, unsure of what he said as she was pulled off her side of the booth. Her purse and shawl were at the tips of her fingers. "What?"

By then, she and Dick were already standing, just a foot away from the waitress and she could see the other customers up from their seats too, each drawing out their cameras and phones. Her attention was snapped by Dick's voice.

"RUN!"

* * *

Dick wasn't sure how or when they started bursting into fits of laughter, but it didn't die until they were several blocks away from the diner, panting for breaths. He had never run out of a food joint before, even with people taking snapshots of his dates in the past. Bruce certainly would have stayed seated for the publicity, but he didn't want to have Barbara be on another magazine cover.

Turning towards her, crouched down like he was and hands at her knees, she was fighting for breath but was having problems ending her giggles.

"I-I can't b-believe we ran," she panted, and then stood up straight. Her smile was still plastered on her face, which kept his own grin glued on his face. "I can see it now. _Grayson and Gordon: Flee from Diner_," she said, raising her voice.

He gave her an amused look, before looking around and studying their surroundings. Extending his arm back, he grabbed hold of her hand, feeling her fingers tightening around his hold after a momentary lapse. He pretended not to notice.

"Come on, we should still get something to eat," he said.

They walked for another block, ducking their heads and turned to each other every time they had to walk pass a crowd of people. They laughed each time they were close to being recognized.

Dick held Barbara close to him, opting to let go of her hand part way through and wrapping his arm over her shoulder like he always did. It wasn't until the smell of food lured them to a vendor that he released his hold from her.

"Two of your finest hot dogs, sir," Dick said while flashing a grin.

"I'm paying for this one," Barbara stated, reaching for her purse.

He held his hand out though, and was about to pull out his wallet when the redhead handed the vendor her bill, smiling at his defeat.

"Too slow," she teased. "Besides, you paid for the meal at the diner. It's my turn," she said. She took the hotdog from the vendor and began squeezing condiments on.

He accepted the hotdog, but spent a longer time creating a masterpiece with the assorted condiments available. By the time he was finished, Barbara was already half way through, and was eyeing him.

"You have the weirdest taste in hotdogs, Dick," she observed.

He ignored the comment, taking a large bite out of his meal and then chewing it thoroughly, leaning in towards Barbara to show her the contents in his mouth.

"Way to be a gentleman," she commented, lightly pushing him away from her.

The two continued to walk towards the beaches, just at the end of the orange-purple horizon.

Dick scolded himself for not bringing a suit jacket when he saw the goose bumps along Barbara's bare arms, but she tightened the shawl around them and insisted she was fine with the nighttime breeze. He only had his dress shirt on.

It was strange, he realized. He had known Barbara for almost half of his life, and yet there were little things that still surprised him. He had assumed that by now, they would've run out of stories to share, but he was perfectly content, as was she, with just walking and talking.

By nightfall, they had reached the edges of Mount Justice. Knowing that only a selected few would actually be at the cave that day, Dick hiked with Barbara along the rocky steps nearby the base without the thought of putting on his sunglasses.

There was a grassy terrain just on the side, which the pair laid down on with the idea that once the night was over, they could just use the Zeta tube from inside the mountain to go home.

But Dick didn't want it to be over. As quiet as they were, he enjoyed sitting under the afterglow of the skies with her. He wasn't sure how he was going to relive this again once they were in separate cities doing different things.

He turned to face her; she was now sitting, engrossed in whatever she was clicking at on her own minicomputer.

"Babs, I thought I said to leave mission related things out of today's adventures," he said, but the girl swatted his face away from her personal bubble.

"_Actually_," she started. "I thought we'd end this day on a different note."

He raised a brow. "I thought I was the one with all of the plans. Are they not good enough for you, Babs?" He feigned a look of displeasure, but glanced at the small hologram created by her watch. It displayed movie previews, and Dick finally realized what she was doing.

"Pirating movies, are we? I don't think Bruce would approve of us using our superpowers for evil."

"Bruce isn't here now, is he?" She smirked.

His lips parted in partial surprise. "Alright, who are you and what have you done with the real Babs? She would never break rules like this."

But he pushed himself up to sit on his bottom. Then without warning, he grabbed onto her wrist and pulled it towards him, dragging her body so that her head was leaning onto his shoulder.

"Dick?" She questioned, trying to pull back.

He didn't let go of her arm. Rather, he fidgeted with a series of buttons on her wrist which led to a larger holographic screen with better graphic quality. Finally, he released her, allowing her to sit up straight on her own.

She rubbed her wrist. "You could have just told me instead of doing that."

He gave her a smug look. "I didn't think you would know how to. You're still a _trainee_ in hacking, after all. You're not a master like I am, yet."

"Trainee? Oh, I'll show you _trainee_," the redhead said, enunciating the last word.

Before he knew it, she was lunging at him. The movie forgotten, Dick evaded her arm which tried to push him down onto the grass. He stuck his tongue out at her, enticing her attacks even more as she playfully launched her fist in his direction; she was still quite vicious despite wearing a dress and heels, he mused. Then, he grabbed onto her arm, pulling her down onto the grass again with him.

They both laughed out loud, but the sounds died quickly when he noticed her staring wide-eyed at him. It was then that he noticed their position on the rocky terrain, with her body on top of his.

His chest was pounding rapidly and loudly, and his initial instincts were to push her off of him, because the position they were in _wasn't_ proper. But the more he stared into her bright blue eyes, the more he ignored his instincts.

His fingers were still wrapped tentatively around her wrist, which rested on top of his chest. He could feel her try to steady her breathing, but the look on her face indicated she was still in the state of shock and confusion. It had her still-widened eyes, her cute, small nose, and the cherry-red lips that liked to make its mark on his cheek every now and then; they were looking quite attractive now that he was so close to them.

Within a blink of an eye, a dozen thoughts ran across his mind—thoughts he was surprised at himself for thinking—of what to do with her lips. But before he could act upon them, Barbara had pulled herself off, fidgeting her way out of his hold.

"Jeez, Dick," she tried to say, breaking the awkward tension that lingered for a few seconds.

He glanced up at her, but she was facing the opposite way from him.

"You know how much it bothers me when you lean in like that—what did I tell you about invading someone else's personal bubble?"

"You didn't look bothered this time," he muttered quietly.

He could see her lips part. She tried to say something, but the words hadn't escaped from her mouth. Finally, she cleared her throat and got up from her seat, patting away the grass from her dress. She continued to be hesitant of meeting Dick's gaze on her.

Dick did the same, feeling a little disappointed. He wondered if she felt the same.

"It's getting late," she finally said. "I have work back in Gotham in a few hours anyway."

He followed after her, heading back towards the mountain entrance. "I thought you took the day off."

"I-I did, or I tried to, but they couldn't find someone to cover for me."

Dick knew she was lying, but said nothing.

"Thanks for the day though—I had fun," Barbara added with a smile. "I mean, this isn't what we usually do when we hang out."

He grinned. "I know. Given the circumstances though, I figured you deserved a treat."

"I never thought I'd get to be a Grayson's Angel for a night. So this is what everyone's raving about…" She contemplated, voice quieting down in the end.

"'Grayson's Angel'?" Dick glanced at her, confused. He continued to walk alongside her.

"It's the term to describe the group of girls you went out with back in high school," the redhead continued to say. "It's how Artemis and I referred to them every time you didn't show up at the cave, Dick. I thought you knew—it would've been mentioned in the papers the next day at least."

He could feel the corners of his lips falling, unpleased at the thought of Barbara reading the papers about his previous scandals. He had assumed she didn't read them. "Oh? I never read those.

"I didn't read them either, but it's hard not to miss the bolded headlines."

"What else did you guys say while I was away?" He asked coolly.

"Hmm, just the usual. We used to place bets on how many girls you were with for the night and other things," she mentioned briefly before sporting a smile. "Hey, before I go to work, let's stop by Blüdhaven, and che—"

But Dick's mind was still wrapped around the thought of her and Artemis placing bets on him. Was he just another playboy to them? Suddenly, all he could remember was Barbara's voice the other day in the monitor room.

"_Is it…really that bad to be in a relationship with me?" _

"_What? Oh come on, me with you: the playboy, extraordinaire?"*_

He stopped walking, and looked back at her—she was still talking about the idea of checking Blüdhaven out. Before she could continue, he interrupted her.

"I legitimately liked those girls I took out. I didn't go out with them because I wanted a _night of fun, _Babs_._"

Barbara froze and looked up at Dick in surprise. "You know those girls only wanted to go out with you because of your name," she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Has it ever occurred to you that not everyone at Gotham Academy was as shallow as you think they were?"

He could see the wrinkles forming on her face, her brows furrowing; she was mad, but the more he thought about what she just said, the more furious he grew to be too.

"I'm pretty sure I knew how the majority of them were," Barbara said with a wave of her hands, voice growing louder. "Don't forget that while you were off superheroing with the team, I was stuck in class with _them_. I know _exactly _what they're like. How else do you think I handle the media's constant bullying on me so well? We've only had a total of four scandals, Dick, but it takes _years _of practice to withstand the type of crap the public gives us."

Dick knew her well enough to know that she wasn't lying, but he stood still, unresponsive. There was the voice in his head that reminded him that she had a hard time fitting in at school, but he could only recall her strong voice in the crowd of hundreds. She never seemed fazed by her status at school; at least, whenever he saw her, she was fine.

"If I dated one of the girls who bullied you, why didn't you tell me?" He asked.

"We barely talked at the time, Dick, and I didn't think it would've changed anything. Sure, you would've gotten back at them some way or another with your endless supply of blackmail stored up in your computer, but you still would've gone out with them for some good press…" She pressed her lips together immediately after, looking as if she was scolding herself for what she had just said.

A series of thoughts crossed Dick's mind, and the longer he pressed on them, the more his blood boiled. Pursing his lips, he shut his eyes to soak in what he had just heard.

"So that's what you think of me," he muttered. His fists were balling up. "You know, I understand the media portraying me as playboy, I understand Wally congratulating me on a 'score', but you? I never thought your opinion of me would be so low."

"_Low_? Trust me, if my opinion of you had been _low_, I would _not_ be standing here with you right now. In fact, I wouldn't have tried so hard to get you to _remember _that I existed back at the academy!"

"I had _missions_ to go on, Barbara!" He yelled. "I couldn't always make time for you—"

"But you clearly had time for Zatanna Zatara, Raquel Ervin—"

"We were on the same team!"

"—_Bette Kane,_"She counted, extending a finger after each name. "Jennifer McGraw, Allison Smith, Laurel Atwood, Sarah Brooke, Vivian—"

"So what if I went out with all of them? I said I legitimately _like_ all the girls I take out."

"Then what about me? What about _me_? Even after I became Batgirl – after I was placed on the _same_ _team _as you— you made time to meet these girls, you made the time to learn to_ like_ them. Meanwhile, I'm at home, waiting for my _best friend_ to actually make time for me!"

"And I will make time once I _find_ where she is, because she's clearly _not_ here!" His voice was high, as was hers, and he suddenly lost all concentration. He couldn't think clearly, and his surroundings became blurry. The only person he was focused on was Barbara, but even the sight of her didn't relax him like it always did.

Suddenly, the door not too far from them opened, and before either Barbara or Dick could cover their faces, Karen had peeked out of the entranceway.

"Batgirl, Nightwing, what is going on?" She asked, glancing at the pair. "We can all hear you two from inside the mo—You're…Oh. _Oh_." She froze and suddenly her eyes widened. She pointed a finger at the couple. "You two are…I'll go back inside."

"It's fine. I was just leaving anyway," Barbara spat, pushing Dick aside to walk into the mountain.

"Babs—"

"Don't call me that, Dick! Your _best friend _isn't here, remember?"

He could hear the way her voice dissolved, and if he was any closer, he'd bet that her eyes were beginning to become red-rimmed. He ran after her, entering the mountain too and passing a shocked Karen.

"Would you _stop_ running away each and every time we fight?!"

"I'm _not_ running away," the redheaded girl growled, turning to face him. "I have _work_ to do."

_Batgirl: B-1-6_

Dick let out a growl, infuriated with the way things ended with Barbara. He turned his head and could see M'gann, Conner, Tim and Karen collecting themselves at the door, each staring at him in wonder and with Karen, in utter shock at their exposed secret identities—he was too fueled up to care.

"Dick, are you okay?" M'gann asked, concerned.

"M'fine," he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose and letting out a sigh of frustration. He hadn't bothered saying anything else before entering the portal to head back to Gotham.

* * *

Barbara left the abandoned telephone booth as quickly as possible, in case Dick was following behind. She was never one to run in heels, but this was the second time that day that she had to.

The sun was still up, compared to the evening sky in Happy Harbour, so she found herself looking ridiculous wearing such an outfit in broad daylight amongst the crowd of passerby.

She could feel her phone vibrate several times, and checked the first few times to see both Dick's and Karen's names on the caller ID; she didn't answer any of them. Rather, she headed for her home, which thankfully was no longer surrounded by the paparazzi, though if anyone from the diner had managed to get a shot of them running, she assumed this would change too.

Barbara immediately pulled the dress off of her, grabbing a tee and pair of jeans in the process. She was still furious. Her reflection on the mirror reminded her that. Her brows were still arched, she was still panting for breath, and her eyes were growing redder; she sniffed.

What was the argument even about? She tried to recall what had just happened, but her anger for Dick shadowed their voices.

Suddenly, her watch started beeping. At first, she assumed it was Dick, but glancing down, the message she received came from Tim, who said that it was urgent.

Barbara wiped her eyes, and cleared her throat. Sitting onto her bed, she read the boy's messages, which instructed: "_Go into the Batcave feed at 12:06, and the mountain's surveillance at 22:45_."

Confused, she opened up the video footages, and studied the holographic videos that popped up. It was of her and Dick.

Batcave Feed, 12:06PM: _"Come on, Babs. It isn't so often that I get to take out the greatest girl in Gotham."_

Mount Justice Feed, 22:45PM_: "I said I legitimately like all the girls I take out."_

Barbara closed her eyes, and ran her fingers through her hair, muttering words to herself.

"I'm so stupid…"

.

* * *

**A/N: ***quote was from chapter 13

I don't know why I always make these two argue every time they come close to being together...But at least it's a little bit of development, right? xD

I also realized I have _another_ person (Karen) find out about their secret identities. It wasn't really planned until I wrote it out, but she will probably be the last one to know for this story, unless you're able to convince me why another teammate deserves to know.

Please review! I'll update asap once my exams are over.


	18. Chapter 17

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: The idea of the media popularizing the thought of Dick and Barbara getting married was originally from **GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titans story: "Drive By Media." I have asked permission to use it for my own YJ story. All copyrighted characters also do not belong to me.  
**Words**: 3,000+  
**Notes**: Yay! No more hiatus! As of now, I will be updating every Thursday! Thank you for the wait.

**X-X-X-**

_Batcave Feed, 12:06PM: "Come on, Babs. It isn't so often that I get to take out the greatest girl in Gotham."_

_Mount Justice Feed, 22:45PM: "I said I legitimately like all the girls I take out."_

_Barbara closed her eyes, and ran her fingers through her hair, muttering words to herself. _

_"I'm so stupid…"_

* * *

"You're all aware that over a month ago, we were notified to enlist some bodyguards willing to work with Richard Grayson and Barbara Gordon of Gotham City without their approval. We have been following their tracks since then, only to find that someone is behind these schematics, though we don't know if they're luring Grayson and his family, or if they're really luring _us_, whether it be for offensive purposes or to use us as a distraction.

"While many high profile individuals were invited to the wedding, one of them stood out the most among the list of suspects: Lex Luthor," Nightwing stated, pulling up a holographic profile of the man.

"With the Grayson-Gordon wedding cancelled, we still have reason to believe that Luthor has something planned on the day of the planned wedding on August 28th. Richard Grayson has already formally announced a party that he will be holding on the same day, with the same invite list, so Luthor _should_ be attending that night. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing whether something will happen in Gotham or Metropolis.

"That's why we're dividing the team into squads to _observe _only and interfere if necessary. These squads will be led by Miss Martian, Superboy, and I. The Justice League has agreed to be on the lookout for anything suspicious outside of these cities and will contact us if necessary." He turned to the other seniors. "I believe you've already chosen who's going to be on which squad?"

Superboy and Miss Martian nodded.

"Wonder Girl and Bumble Bee will be with me in Gotham. We will be attending the party that Richard Grayson has set up," said Miss Martian. She gave a soft smile when hearing Wonder Girl's squeal in excitement, followed by her twirling up into the air. Her excitement didn't last too long though as Superboy interrupted.

"Lagoon Boy, Beast Boy, and Blue Beetle are with me," he said grumpily. He crossed his arms and refused to meet the Atlantean in the eye, who also frowned.

The other teammates looked confused though, eyeing both Batgirl and Robin curiously. In previous missions, their hackers had always been split in between the squads. Sensing this confusion, Nightwing continued to speak.

"Robin will be with you, Mal, and will be the…designated hacker, if you need one. And," his voice quieted slightly, and he could see the looks on his teammates' faces. "And Batgirl will be with me."

It was clear that he was avoiding eye contact with the redhead, but no one chose to say anything about it.

* * *

She was almost expecting them, Karen and M'gann, to crowd around her after the briefing. She was in a secluded corner of the mountain, with the living room—where the rest of the team was—just visible in the distance.

The moment the other two arrived, Batgirl didn't miss a beat and chose to speak first.

"You can tell Mal to give you that twenty back, Karen. You were right. Nightwing _did _ask me out on a _real_ date," she said solemnly, barely lifting her sight off of the cement floor.

The others chose not to speak, and Batgirl knew they were passing each other a glance before looking at her sympathetically. She continued to talk.

"I just…I just ruined it by my own stupid insecurities—which you were also right about." Finally, she lifted her head, forcing a weak smile at the turn of events.

"Barbara…" M'gann was first to say; she knelt down next to the other redhead, placing a hand on her quivering shoulders. Batgirl dug her face into the palm of her hands to hide her emotions from the crowd.

"He had so many girlfriends in the past. And people said all these things about him, which I never believed…At least, I thought I never believed it," she paused. There were several magazines lying nearby, each with photos of her and Dick together and she continued to inwardly scold herself while she stared at their covers. "_But _I guess some part of me ended up believing it anyway. Somehow I thought that the stupid playboy at those banquets was real and I forgot who my best friend actually was..."

"Sweetie, since joining the team, I have seen you two fight day in and day out, and I'm sure M'gann's seen way more than I have since she was here first," Karen interjected. She knelt down next to M'gann and Batgirl. "Trust me. You two will work it out. This is just one of your old, married couple acts that will go away with time." She provided Batgirl with a confident smile, to which M'gann joined her.

Batgirl let out a hefty breath through her nostrils. "Yeah, we just have to wait to see which one of us decides to apologize first this time."

"He still really cares about you," said M'gann. "I think after you make up, you two still could work things out and take things to the next level."

Behind her sunglasses, Batgirl's eyes widened. "I-I never said I was interested."

Karen started to wave a finger in the air. "Barbara—Batgirl—can I call you Barbara? We never actually went over this. Either way, _BG_, stop giving us that crap. You've always been curious, but you keep overanalyzing everything like you always do, so you expect the worse out of it. Don't be a pessimistic."

"I'm a _realist_, Karen," she deadpanned. "D-Nightwing and I have never shown any interest in each other in the past and even _if _he was remotely intrigued last night, who's to say _he's_ still interested after the move I pulled on him?"

At this point, no one else said anything. They knew they could have gone ahead with the endless reassurance that the fight wasn't anything serious, and maybe, had they been a few years younger, they would have done just that. But they were older now. Meaningless words weren't going to affect the broken hearted, much less Batgirl. They needed actual proof to go with their words.

Batgirl glanced back up again, seeing Nightwing in the distance chatting with the other guys. She could tell he was unhappy, even with the smile on his face. The grin wasn't broad enough for him, but then again, if she could barely see past the playboy exterior, how could she tell if he was truly faking his emotions now?

The rim of her eyes began to sting again, and she had to pull off her glasses to wipe them hastily. She sniffed a few times, before placing them back on, but she knew Karen and M'gann could see how swollen her eyes had become.

Of the two others, M'gann was the first to make any sort of real sound. She let out a breathy sigh before speaking. "Barbara," she spoke, almost as if she was scared anyone else in the cave could hear them. She cleared her throat, and even Karen was curious with what the Martian had to say. Turning her neck slightly, so that she could see the team from a distance, M'gann continued. "Do you know what the difference is between…" She held her breath momentarily, and in the softest, most quiet voice, she murmured: "La'gaan and Conner?"

Batgirl looked at M'gann apprehensively, surprised at her friend's own conversation starter. Even Karen seemed shocked. No one had dared to speak of M'gann's relationship issues for the past year, considering how stringent she was on not discussing it.

Slowly, the humans looked up and studied Conner and La'gaan—each were on opposite sides of the rooms obviously. There were the clear physical and some behavioural differences, but they were somewhat the same when it came to M'gann and their overprotectiveness of her. Even Batgirl, with her computer full of character profiles and history, couldn't place a point on what it was that M'gann was talking about.

Batgirl continued to stare at them though, and for a brief moment, she and Conner made eye contact. He quickly looked away, opting to discuss to Nightwing about something else. She knew he wasn't listening in on their conversation. The Kryptonian knew better than that—he's been _taught_ to not do that—and she respected him as much as he respected her. He wouldn't have even thought about listening in on the girls trying to comfort her on her relationship issues.

But La'gaan had the same amount of respect. Despite being a bit gruff at times, he was chivalrous like all Atlanteans were raised to be.

Batgirl furrowed her brows and finally turned to M'gann in defeat. Even Karen had been pressing on the green girl to reveal her opinion on her current and ex-boyfriends.

M'gann provided a small smile and continued to watch them from afar, but while her pupils darted back and forth between the two, Batgirl could tell that they lingered on Conner the longest. She felt her stomach drop when she realized that she herself had a habit of staring at Nightwing longer than anyone else.

"La'gaan's great," M'gann started. She visibly swallowed, trying to take away the lump that was preventing her to discuss her relationship details. "I don't want you guys to think badly of him, and I know things were…a bit crazy when Conner and I broke up, but…" Her smile widened at the sudden thought, making both Karen and Batgirl more confused.

"But what?" Karen asked.

"He's the type of guy you know is looking at you, even when you aren't looking back."

And in an instant, everyone knew she wasn't talking about La'gaan.

She turned to Batgirl. "You just thought of Nightwing, didn't you?"

M'gann's comment caught her breath, and Batgirl stared wide-eyed at her two friends. "Wait, but he doesn't—"

"He does. Even when you're not looking back at him, he looks at you. You may not notice it, but I have—especially in the past few weeks while I was in Gotham."

Batgirl was silent.

"Do you want proof?" M'gann asked confidently. Suddenly, everything from pre-teen magazines to the latest middle-aged gossip journals to bridal portfolios flew in their direction.

"Oh no, you are _not_ shoving that paparazzo-junk on me!" Batgirl exclaimed with hands in the air. She purposely got up from her seat to dodge M'gann's and Cassie's magazines.

"But look at the covers…That's not edited or anything," M'gann said from her seat.

And there they were on each cover. His arm over her shoulder, guiding her to wherever it was they were heading to, his face turned to hers, watching her as her nose pointed forward. That smile printed on his face…

Barbara snapped herself out of her daze.

"That's just him being overprotective because of the reporters surrounding us," she insisted. "I mean, look at this one. We're just walking casually next to each other, and he's not giving me—"

"BG, that magazine is from last year," said Karen. "There's obviously a difference between last year's covers and now—don't you see it?"

She looked back down again, even going as far as opening the magazines she detested and seeing snapshots of the two laughing away behind café windows, entertaining each other at Bruce's parties, and finally, an old photo of them from high school.

They were in their uniforms, and she vividly remembered teasing him about his height back then, but there they were in the courtyard. He was holding onto her hand tightly in that photo and she looked surprised at his gesture. To an outsider, it may have seemed like a cute sign of young love, but she recalled that day. A bunch of seniors had picked on her for being one of the few students on scholarship, and while she could defend herself, Dick had showed up surprisingly to back her up.

Her lips parted, and she had to blink away the tears again. She could feel her face wrinkling—feel Karen's and M'gann's apprehensive watch on her.

Dick was rarely at school and yet he still protected her whenever he could. He had to put her last in his life because of his extracurricular activities and yet in his eyes, she was still his best friend whenever he _did _hang out. He could have made more time for her, she knew, but it was already difficult enough to live a normal life and having everything split up into smaller fractions of time. The fact that he continued to care for her after so long was still something. Her anger from all those times he left her had just clouded that fact.

Batgirl let out a heavy breath and turned to her friends.

"But what if I lose him? What if it doesn't go well and I _lose_ him?" She asked, her lips still parted—cracked and dry. She pressed them together, waiting for her answer.

"You won't. I told you before: _if_," Karen pressed, "it doesn't go well, things will work out in the end anyway. I'm pretty sure it's a known fact that Nightwing's superpower is to stay friends with all of his exes." She smirked.

"But—"

"You could try," M'gann interrupted. "I know Conner and I aren't the greatest examples, but we're working it out. And I know that if for some reason you and Nightwing don't work, you two will make things work. You guys always do."

"Oh, wait one sec!" Karen stepped over to the pile of recyclables nearby. Eventually, after some digging, she managed to pull out her own piece of evidence.

Barbara looked at here, lifting up, not magazines, but newspapers, each with photos of the team, captured in their greatest moments during the heat of the battle. Despite being a covert ops team, they had managed to land themselves in the spotlight.

Batgirl looked down, seeing the images of her and Nightwing; they always had smiles or confident looks plastered on their faces as if nothing could ever get in between them.

She looked back up to her friends in appreciation.

"_Thank you_," Batgirl murmured. Then she gave a bright smile, wrapping her arms around the two girls. "Thank you guys so much."

* * *

Nightwing couldn't help but grin at the way Batgirl jogged up to him with a bright look to her face. He let out a sigh of relief, and in the corner of his eyes, could see M'gann and Karen in a secluded corner staring at them. He silently thanked them, guessing that it was their urging that will end this fight he and Batgirl were having.

It wouldn't have mattered anyway; he was going to apologize sooner or later, but it helped, he found, to rant to others first before mellowing out and apologizing after. That's what he had Wally for, after all, and since learning about his identity, Conner had been great help with listening—or sparring against to release his anger.

"Hey," she said with a light voice. She seemed a little apprehensive and excited all at once. It was cute, he thought, but he cleared his throat to prepare for more serious matters.

"Hey."

"Er, can we talk in your room?"

He nodded, and the two—ignoring the whispering of their teammates—went into his unused room.

They stood together in the room for some time. It was Batgirl who insisted on speaking first, but every time she opened her mouth, all Nightwing received was air. Finally, just when he opened his mouth to talk first, she held up her finger to hush him.

"Wait. Dick,_ I_ have to be the one who says this first," she told him, first avoiding any eye contact and then letting out an exhale. "I…About yesterday," she began, "the things I said were stupid and unacc—"

His cell phone rang.

Nightwing briefly looked down at the mobile hidden in one of the compartments of his suit. He pulled it out and glanced at the screen with an obvious frown. Glancing back up at Batgirl, he could see her anxious face, before explaining: "It's Fox. He only calls during emergencies. I…"

The redhead quickly nodded. "It's okay. I can wait," she said, but her voice died by the end.

He answered the call, hearing the business man speak on the other line while he continued to watch Batgirl stand awkwardly in the centre of the room. Nightwing gave a few grunts of approval here and there, adding in quick inputs, but it was obvious he wanted to end the conversation early.

Lucius Fox continued to mention another topic concerning Wayne Industries; the team leader knew that his conversation wasn't going to end so soon. And although he and Barbara still needed to speak, he was also aware that they were going to make up anyway.

Pinching the phone in between his ear and shoulder, Nightwing stepped up towards Batgirl, much to her initial surprise. He then quickly wrapped his arms around her, pretended that he could only hear her breathing and not Lucius Fox's voice running through his ears, and pressed his lips on the side of her face.

He could feel her arms wrapping around his form too, tightening their embrace. When they parted, he pulled the phone away, keeping it at a distance while he looked down at his best friend.

"Dick, I shouldn't have said all of that," she whispered. "I'm really sorry for thinking of Richard instead of Dick, and for insulting you like that."

He nodded. "I know," he murmured into her ear. "I'm sorry too though. I should've made more time for you."

"No, you shouldn't. You're a busy guy, Dick. We both know that. I can't hog you away from your love life just as I can't hog you away from your," she paused to eye the phone in his hand cautiously, "jobs."

"But—"

She hushed him quickly. "So are we good?"

He grinned, hearing the faint _'Mr. Grayson? Mr. Grayson? Are you listening?'_ from Fox in the background. Before he responded to his business associate, he took one more look at the girl in front of him. She looked like there was something else she wanted to say, but he knew that the important part was over. He gave her a nod.

"We're good," he confirmed.

.

* * *

**A/N:** So this is somewhat of a filler chapter. Next one, you'll either love or hate me, and after that, _that__'s_ when the action starts. Or so I have planned right now.

Please review! :)


	19. Chapter 18

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: The idea of the media popularizing the thought of Dick and Barbara getting married was originally from **GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titans story: "Drive By Media." I have asked permission to use it for my own YJ story. All copyrighted characters also do not belong to me.  
**Words**: 5,100+  
**Notes**: Thanks for the reviews guys!

**X-X-X-**

He legitimately…likes every girl he takes out, Barbara recalled, staring absentmindedly at her wrist computer. She pressed rewind and stared at the footage of him taking her out on their date again. Lips pressed together, she idly tossed some of the magazines she borrowed from M'gann aside.

She kept true to her word with Dick, and hadn't read a single gossip column, but since bringing them back to her Gotham home, Barabra could honestly say she would get the magazines in the future, only to keep the photos of her and Dick though. They were great memory savers. Or at least contact the agencies to send the photos over.

Eventually, she got up from her seat and made her way to the closet. She had promised the other girls she would go shopping with them today, in preparation for the party Dick was holding. It had been a while since she went on a _shopping spree_, but with the worried looks her dad had been giving her recently concerning her relationship with Dick, she _needed_ to leave the house.

"Daddy, I'm going out!" She called.

The older man looked up from his papers. "With…?"

"The girls," Barbara pressed, sliding a pair of sunglasses into her pocket.

Jim Gordon raised a brow, studying his daughter in hopes of determining whether she was lying or not. Finally, he sighed. "Stay safe, Barb."

She smiled. "See you later, dad."

When she finally got to Metropolis where the others decided to spend their day, she slid on the shades and ran into M'gann (as Megan) and Karen just by the boutiques, waving in her direction.

She waved back, and ran up to them. Cassie was running late, she assumed, seeing as the blonde was nowhere to be seen.

They decided to window shop until Cassie arrived, staring at the pricey merchandise. It wasn't until they reached the bridal store that Barbara stopped her tracks. She gulped at the sight of the dress in the store window; it was similar to the dress she had at home—now forever unworn. It reminded her of Dick and the wedding fiasco.

"Thinking about saying 'I do' in the near future, BG?" Karen piped up, and Barbara jumped at the sound. "Or was it about Dick? Or both?"

The redhead gave her a look, before weakly objecting her friend. "I was _not_, Karen."

But the dark skinned girl wasn't convinced. "Girl, we all know you have him on your brains twenty-four-seven," she joked.

Barbara took this oppourtunity to laugh at her friends. "If I recall correctly," she began mischievously, "it was you two and Cassie who gushed over him and his _perfection_ all day and night."

Megan visibly blanched in embarrassment, while Karen started to stammer on her words.

"W-We weren't the only ones, Barbara," Megan said, eyeing her teammates cautiously. "He _is_ good looking…like any other celebrity. It's completely normal, right Karen?"

Karen on the other hand, wasn't thinking on the same lines though. "Oh just wait a minute there, BG. I wasn't _gushing_ after Dick Grayson, okay? I mean, he's cute like a little boy, but he is definitely not man enough for my tastes—er, no offense."

Both Megan and Barbara raised skeptical brows.

"Then the sighs in front of the TV were for…?"

Karen continued. "_Obviously_ I was pining for Bruce Way—" She stopped, and her eyes widened like saucers, staring directly at Barbara and Megan who looked like they were about to burst into laughter. "Oh…Oh dear God…I've been crushing on the boss's boss! The big boss!"

"Whose boss?" Suddenly, Cassie appeared from behind, and Barbara wasted no opportunity to tell the blonde.

"Karen has a crush on _the_ boss's boss," she told the newcomer.

Now, even Cassie's eyes widened, though not as big as Karen's flabbergasted reaction. "You mean," she whispered, and then mouthed: "_Batman_?"

"Ba—BG!" Karen scolded as the others laughed. "How could you!"

Everyone laughed and began walking along the streets to their desired store.

Cassie merely smiled at Karen. "It's okay, Karen. I guess he does have a nice…mouth. Does Mal know?"

* * *

"Ollie's pretty busy with his own company," Roy explained, pulling the bottle of heated milk from the microwave. He squeezed a droplet onto his wrist before deciding it was warm enough. "I don't think he and Dinah can come to your little party, Dick."

The former Boy Wonder paid minimum attention to the oldest though, smiling happily at the sight of a giggling Lian bouncing up and down on his knee.

"I'll come if you really want me to, dude," Wally added, "but I was hoping to spend a little more time with Arty before school starts and we're both crammed with midterms and…lab reports…" He narrowed his eyes at his best friend, still ignoring them and making childish noises at the small baby.

Roy gave a snort. "He's probably too busy imagining what his and Barbara's child would look like."

At the joke, Dick pulled his head up, seeing Roy standing in front of him with the baby bottle, and Wally sit across from him on the sofas. "What about Barbara?" He asked.

Wally and Roy gave each other a look before either shaking their head or rolling their eyes knowingly.

"Nothing, dude. Just saying you should have fun with her at that party of yours—we probably won't be able to come by the way," Wally said.

Dick's shoulders dropped, and he passed Lian back to Roy. "Oh, okay. I think we have enough heroes on the scene anyway, so we're good."

Though that message was meant for the two guys in the room, Dick's eyes couldn't help but wander back to Lian again, feeding happily on Roy's arms.

He idly wondered if any future offspring of his would be a redhead.

* * *

"I'm confused…Why are you buying a dress, Bat-uh, BG?" Cassie asked. "You're not going to be at Dick Grayson's party too, are you?"

The redhead stilled and her eyes narrowed towards the other two girls. "Uh, I…"

"She's going on a date with the boss and she needs something that will make his jaw drop," Karen decided to explain, causing a frightful reaction from Barbara and an excited look on Cassie.

"Really?!"

"_Karen_, would you stop saying I'm going out with the boss?" She turned to Cassie. "I'm _not_ going out with the boss," she insisted.

The look of disappointment on Cassie's and Karen's faces had Barbara dumbfounded. She tried not to notice the amused look on Megan as they continued to browse through the aisles of clothes.

She flipped through the racks professionally, eyes scouting up and down to study each outfit with detail with each passing second.

And then she spotted the dress.

"Oh girl, you _have_ got to try that on. Even if you aren't buying, just wear it on for kicks."

Barbara didn't even bother to protest. Lifting it from the rack, she promptly made her way to the change room, only to come out a few minutes later with a form fitting, dark blue dress with a sweetheart neckline.

She glanced at the mirror, feeling all eyes on her, but while a dress like that would normally make her feel self-conscious, the redhead only felt confidence.

"That doesn't look like something from your closet," Karen observed.

Barbara shrugged, placing her hands on her hips where the material hugged her body.

"No, it doesn't," she said.

"You're not going to buy that, are you? I mean, it looks _really_ good, but…" Megan's voice trailed off and it was clear that even the Martian knew this was outside of Barbara's usual attire.

Barbara took another look at herself. In the past, she always played it safe with it came to parties, and chose dresses with actual straps and minimum skin showing to prevent the press attacking her the next day on her outfit of choice. At the memory, she frowned.

Screw the press, she thought. She's had it with them, and despite the dress being a bit pricey, Barbara didn't bother wasting another minute thinking.

With a well-crafted smile, she said, "I'm taking it."

"Are you sure? Maybe we should look around a bit more. We only just started," Cassie added, but Barbara shook her head.

"I think it's time I stop overthinking things, Cass." She turned to look at her other two friends. "Maybe for the next while, I should be a bit more impulsive."

When they left the store, Megan and Cassie led the group as Karen fell behind to walk with Barbara.

"BG, I just can't wait to see you stand next to him in that dress at the party tomorrow night."

Barbara laughed. "I don't know Karen…He and I were planning on showing up separately for the event."

"So what? You two _will_ be seeing each other there."

The Gothamite was silent for a bit, but quickly, the corners of her lips were pulled upwards and behind her sunglasses, her eyes sparkled with thought. "…_Or_ I can meet him before the party even starts," she suggested.

Karen's eyes widened, before she too smirked. "Aren't you a little confident today?"

"Well, change is good," the other adult mused.

"Is that why you bought that dress? Cause you know if you change your mind, I don't think Mal will have a problem seeing me wearing it."

Barbara laughed. "Thanks for the offer, Karen, but we both know whose favourite colour is blue."

"_Oh_, so this change _is_ for _him_. Well it better knock his Kevlar suit off and he better appreciate it."

Barbara laughed and continued walking. She knew in her head she could probably list a dozen things that could go wrong from what she just did, but for now, she didn't want to overthink it.

Change is good, she reminded herself. Change is good.

* * *

"Right, well thank you for your work, Batman," Commissioner Gordon said just as the Dark Knight's back turned to him up on the rooftop where they met frequently. His eyes narrowed for the sight of Robin or Batgirl, but neither partner showed up that night.

The hero only grunted in response and was about to make his way towards the end of the building when the older man stopped him.

"You'll be there tomorrow, right? At the party?"

Batman turned to the other detective. "You mean Wayne's party?"

Gordon moved his pipe away from his mouth. "No, I mean Grayson's. That kid's been making my daughter upset for the past few days, but," he paused as he leered upwards, glowering dangerously at the man across from him, "I'm sure things have settled down by now. What do you think, _Batman_?"

Batman stayed silent and calm. Inside the suit, Dick was frantic. After all, Bruce never had to deal with situations like these; Gordon _would_ bring up _that_ topic while he was in the Bat-suit.

Finally, the man in the cape turned his face away from the detective and placed a foot at the edge of the roof. With his well-rehearsed, gruff voice that he's used to mimicking for the past several years, he said, "Keep your men on alert tomorrow, Commissioner."

Gordon nodded. "Keep my daughter safe, kid."

With a curt nod, Batman leapt off the roof.

Dick couldn't wait for Bruce to come back so he could be Nightwing again.

* * *

It was the day of the mission.

Superboy had had Jaime skateboard around the area for the past hour or so, and the kid would've still been out there had Luthor's men not kicked him off of the area. Superboy wasn't too far off from the industrial warehouse, and his eyes narrowed at the sight of a few guards walking around the entranceway.

The clone recalled the note that Lois gave him.

_August 28: 47 First Street; meet MG; 6:45PM; bring essentials._

He let go of the binoculars in his hands, which hung from the strap around his neck and then proceeded to place a finger by his ear.

"Do you guys see anything?"

"Negativo," Blue Beetle answered.

"I have a few more guards showing up on the other side," Lagoon Boy added.

"And LexCorp?" Conner asked.

"Everything's running normally here," Beast Boy chirped. "No sign of Luthor though."

"Wait, I see someone. She doesn't look like she's from LexCorp though—she's along your trail Superboy," Blue Beetle added. "Ay, I think she's a reporter."

Superboy growled, closing his eyes to calm his nerves as much as possible. Then opening his eyes to see a Lois Lane not too far off, he let out a loud exhale, and told the others: "I'll take care of her. You three keep watching."

He turned off his side of the comm. link before he approached the dark haired woman.

"Lois."

She turned around, startled.

"What do you think you're doing here?"

"Getting front page news, what else?" She said as if it was the most obvious answer.

But he pulled her arm back before she could approach the buildings. "Are you insane? You could get hurt in there! We have no idea what's going on—"

"Calm down, kid. I'm _not_ going to get myself in trouble."

Superboy frowned. "And just how many times have you told Superman that?"

Lois was about to open her mouth again when she felt him yank her back, leading her to the end of the street.

"Wh-What do you think you're doing?"

Conner placed both of his hands on her arms, forcing her to face him. "You are _not_ going in there. This is _Lex Luthor_ we're dealing with. You know as well as I do that nothing good can come from that man and his schemes."

She was about to protest again when he stopped her.

"Look, I know it's your job, but Superman _isn't_ here this time to save you, and I can't guarantee I can cover all of his jobs. I'm not Lex; I can't come up with strategies and solutions on the spot. And I'm not Clark, so I can't make sure you're safe all the time. Do you have any idea what he'll do if he comes back and you're hurt or worse?"

Finally with a huff, Lois pushed Superboy away and muttered, "Fine. I'll go."

Satisfied, Superboy went back to his hiding spot, hearing the reporter, just a block away by now, talking to herself: "Like fathers, like son. Hmph, guess he'll have to learn the hard way—no one messes with Lois Lane. Not even Luthor's and Superman's lovechild."

He shook his head, but he knew that whatever shenanigans she was going to get herself into, he had to deal with later. For now, he had no time to go lecture her anymore, especially not with the pained feeling that was spreading across his chest.

"Superboy, look," Blue Beetle's voice rang in his ears.

The hero looked up, teeth clenched as he tried to ignore the heartburn.

A car had pulled up next to the building, and he watched attentively as one of the guards opened the door to the white vehicle and a familiar, light brown haired woman stepped out.

MG.

Mercy Graves.

* * *

Barbara glanced at her reflection beneath her lashes, twisting herself to catch a glimpse at her back in the almost backless dress, and then studying her front view. The midnight blue gown adorned her bodice perfectly, just trailing her waistline and hanging above her knees.

She puckered her lips. The bright rouge of her lipstick only stood out against the darkness of her dress. It was the same cherry red colour that Dick bought for her last birthday and had found its way to his cheeks several times.

She knew she looked good. She knew Dick would notice her—shades of blue always caught his eye. While it seemed kind of haughty to dress up to catch his attention, despite the fact that she almost always had it, Barbara knew that taking this step would start what should have been started a long time ago.

And this time, she wasn't going to mess it up.

There weren't going to be any insecurities running around her thoughts, and interfering with her feelings. And she was _not_ going to overanalyze anything.

"Okay, Gordon," she muttered to herself, twisting the curl of red hair by her ear before securing the plaited twist-turned-bun with another pin. She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together, forcing away the pessimistic thoughts that were trying to resurface. "You can do this. Just don't think for once and everything will settle in."

Opening her eyelids to reveal the baby blue orbs staring straight at her in the mirror, Barbara smiled confidently.

Dick Grayson won't know what hit him.

* * *

The extravagant ball was taking place at _Le Musée des Rouges-Gorges_, an eighteenth century building owned by Bruce Wayne himself that lied in the depths of Gotham's most articulate neighbourhoods. There was enough space in the ballroom itself to fill every employee at Wayne Industries along with their families, not to mention the other rooms, all strewn throughout the manor, for entertainment purposes.

What Barbara's wedding scrapbook never revealed, and what Dick never found out, was that she always wanted to marry here. She had fallen in love with the building since the first time her father pulled up to the parking lot for Wayne's annual charity gala, and showed her what her life was going to be like in Gotham.

It was a considerable distance away from the large crowds of city folk and metropolitan corporate buildings, but not too far away for her father who would be going to and from the police station. The gardens were always taken care of and the fountains wiped from bird feces. The chandeliers always sparkled, and there were a plethora of tables and chairs in the supply closet for gathering events. The building basically had everything Barbara wanted without the need to lift up a finger.

The fields were wide enough for the kids to play in too. She remembered countless days spent lying on the grassy terrains here, jumping over the wildflowers, and running amuck with the other attendees' children.

"A dash of nostalgia for tonight, Miss Barbara?"

The voice startled her, but still managed to bring out a bright smile. Barbara walked up to the older man standing by the large doors, and proceeded to wrap her arms around him.

"Hi Alfred! So you got the invite too, huh?" She teased, pulling out her own invitation envelope from her purse and flashing it.

The butler smiled. "Fancy writing on a piece of paper should never be the reason for your company at the Wayne's, Miss Barbara."

She returned the gesture with another smile, and then closed her eyes to take a whiff. "Mm, Alfred, as long as you're still cooking, I'll never shy away from you guys."

They stepped inside, and she could still see most of the caterers and hired service people preparing the main room, setting up the long benches of décor and food. It was still early in the afternoon and so none of the guests had arrived.

"Where's Dick?"

Alfred played no part in hiding the all-knowing grin. "I believe the young master is getting ready. He's been up there for quite some time now; I imagine it has something to do with his bowtie."

"Ah, of course the bowtie," Barbara mused and before she made it to the steps, she added: "Thanks Alfred!"

* * *

In all honesty, with the way her dress was styled, Barbara hadn't counted on walking up that many steps that evening, but the moment she saw Dick standing in the old room they used to play in as children, she knew the tedious task was worth it. He was standing in front of the regal mirror, adjusting and readjusting the bowtie with a look of annoyance on his face, causing her to let out a small laugh.

"Babs? I didn't know you'd be here this early," he said, still focusing on the troubled material in his grasp.

"I'm always early, Dick."

"True. I just thought we were appearing separately like you suggested the other day."

She shrugged, though she knew that he hadn't seen her do it. "Well, if you want, I can wait up here while you entertain the guests, and when you give me my cue, I can come downstairs."

Finally settled on the look of his bow, he set his arms down. "That could be arranged…." His voice died just as he turned around.

Barbara could feel his heavy watch over her, and she shifted uncomfortably on her spot by the door.

"What?"

"It…" Dick started. He cleared his throat. "It's just, you look beautiful."

She grinned, fighting the heat from building up on her face. "Makeup helps."

His shook his head in disagreement, eyes still glued to her. "No…" he breathed, still captivated. His mouth hung open with a little smile still showing.

The redhead mouthed a thank you before walking up to the large windows. Her hands pressed against the ledges, and she studied the detailing of the framework before looking out to the never-ending fields she had just been watching earlier downstairs.

"You always did like the view up here," Dick reflected. He too, stepped up towards the window panel so that he was standing next to her.

Barbara nodded. "Do you remember how terrified I was when you jumped out of this window the first time we were here? I didn't know you were inclined to heights." Her eyes fell and she could see how ravenous the vines had grown over the years along the old bricks. Finally, she turned to the man standing nearby and was immediately engrossed by the smile on his face.

"Heh, yeah, you were pretty _clined _back then."

With a nervous shift, Barbara let out a breath of worry through her nostrils but quickly regained her confidence. She picked up her arms and her fingers lined the collar of his tux, only to undo the bowtie around his neck and knot them perfectly in a way he was unable to earlier.

Her eyes inched upwards, and her fingers remained at the hem of his bowtie.

"Then it's a good thing the _in_ was put in _clined_ for me, isn't it?" She said with a low, alluring voice before taking another step closer to him. She attempted to fix the collar of his tux again, though nothing needed to be done. A finger lifted from its spot and towards his jaw.

She could see him gulp.

"Y-yeah," he managed to croak.

"You know," she started again, nodding her head to the side. "I wonder how many other things can be put _in.._." She paused to look at him devilishly, but inside, she was screaming at herself—how ridiculous did she sound right about now?

His eyes suddenly widened. "Barbara?"

"Yes?"

The lump in his throat bobbed up and down again. "Was that supposed to be sexual?"

"Yes."

He nodded slowly. "Are you okay?"

"I just…feel like a change," Barbara responded

"Okay." It was clear he was trying (and failing) to look anywhere else but her. "Just one more question."

"Anything."

"Are you flirting with me?"

She couldn't help but allow the corner of her lips move up. "Is it working?"

"Ye—" He squeaked before clearing his throat. "It's just the party is starting soon…I have to…meet..."

And Barbara could feel his gaze back down at her. For once she's excited—nervous, hesitant—but she knew at the same time the voice in her head that had been acting as the angel on her shoulder for the past 18 years of her life was fighting to crawl out of its cage and analyze the situation. She needed to think about things clearly, but she didn't.

Just go through with the plan of having no plans, she reminded herself. She could see Dick still standing there, allowing her to play with his bowtie again. For a moment, Barbara had assumed he would step back, but he was as frozen as the ice sculptures downstairs in the bowls of ice and wine. That is, everything but his eyes: dilated and transfixed on her.

It was just the perfect sign she needed.

"You have to what, Dick?" She breathed. The distance between their noses shortened.

"I have a…"

And within an instant, Barbara could feel his lips on hers.

True to his demeanor, his kisses began chaste – warm and soft in every way. Pulling away, he gazed at her questionably, swallowing at the sight of her heavy breathing, and entranced eyes.

Barbara watched him, still a bit dazed. Her lips quivered slightly, eager for more; Dick licked his lips. With another breath, Barbara grabbed a fistful of his hair as she pulled him back to her, crushing her lips against his. Her other hand joined its twin, caressing the back of his neck.

The corner of his mouth curved slightly, and like a gentleman, he grazed his tongue over her lips, before she complied with his request, allowing his tongue entrance into her mouth.

It soon escalated into harsh lip biting, tongue, _moans, _growls. Barbara found herself ending their lip lock, soaking in a breath of air for less than a second when Dick pulled her in again, nibbling at her swollen lower lip after he did so.

Her back arched when he trailed kisses down her jawline. There was a twist in her chest that accompanied her uneven breaths and uncontrolled heartbeats –she gasped when he began nipping at her neck. With her hand still knotted into his hair, she pulled him away from her neck, only to have her tongue delve into his mouth again.

She felt a swirl of heat swimming through her lower abdomen as the arm coiled around her waist tightened.

There were sounds coming from the lower level of the building and on the other side of the window she was now pressed up against. Only two seconds had passed where Barbara realized what—who—the sounds were coming from, but the images of party guests arriving quickly faded when Dick pulled her away from the window. Even with the tight dress on, she lifted her legs with ease, kicking the heels off, and wrapped them around his hips.

Finally, they withdrew from one another.

"W-We should…" She said, panting at a quick pace that matched Dick's. She shifted her sight from him to the background.

"Yeah," he breathed in agreement before pulling her into him again.

With their eyes sealed shut, and his arm secured around her waist, Dick turned his body, carrying her with him towards the opened entrance of the room. The movement never disrupted their actions – her hands still in his hair and at his neck, the _feel_ of the vibrations coming down his chest as he growled through harsh kisses.

Dick pushed her against the wall opposite of the window, and it supported her when he let go of her waist. Her legs were still tangled around his hips and her hands inched their way down from his neck to the buckle of his belt. Even with his lips on her, she felt his smirk. She did the same when she felt him coil his arm around her chest, reaching for the zipper in the back of her dress.

With his free hand, Dick slammed the door shut.

But before anything could happen, before Barbara could pull that ridiculous bowtie off of him and before he could slip his hands beneath the material of her dress, she heard it.

The faint voice of a woman approaching the room. _Their_ room.

"_Richie_! Where are you?"

And while her eyes may have looked like they belonged to a deer caught in the headlights, his looked like a man caught in bed with another woman—apologetic for the betrayal that was just heard.

"You…" Barbara choked out. "You had _a_ _date_?!"

He looked away, unable to face her even as she untangled her legs around his hips and pushed him away from her. Then mutely, he nodded.

Barbara could feel her face redden, recalling his feeble explanation just before _everything_, how he couldn't have finished telling her because…

"Just go, Dick."

"What?" It was the first sound that came from him.

She turned and signalled her back, allowing him to zip it back up. Then with a swift turn, and a wince as she continued to hear his date's calls for him outside in the hallway, she adjusted his belt buckle and retied his bow, smoothing out his hair and finally nudging his shoulder in the direction of the doorway. She kept her face emotionless.

"Go."

His mouth opened like he wanted to tell her something—like he wanted to apologize. But Barbara shook her head.

"Just go to her. If we both come out, it'll look suspicious," she explained while making her way to the windowsill. She unlocked the levers and then bent down to pick up the heels that were tossed carelessly onto the floor.

"But—"

"I'm inclined to heights now, remember? I can sneak out without anyone knowing." Her voice was weak.

"Babs, I…"

"No, I understand. I was the one who suggested we showed up separately. It's my fault. I mean…" She opened the window, staring at the vines and hoping no party guest would notice the dark figure climbing down. "I guess I was overthinking about our past few…days." She cleared her throat and waved him off. "Just go to your party, Dick."

It was the last thing she said to him before throwing the heels out of the window and placing her bare foot on the vines. She could still see him standing at the doorway when she made her way downwards, rubbing his temples and looking extremely frustrated, and then she heard the soft _click_ of the door when he left.

When she made it on ground level, chest heavy with embarrassment, she felt a little pride knowing that this time, _this_ time despite of what had just happened, she wasn't crying. It was as if she already _knew_ something was going to happen between them. She _expected_ it and prepared herself for it. In her head, the mind of a trained Bat, she had already known the consequences of not thinking things out that night.

And so she couldn't cry. Not again. Not for him. Not anymore.

She picked up her heels from the grass, took one more look at the building, and started to go back to the city.

This was the place she wanted to get married.

This was where she first met Dick.

.

* * *

**A/N**: So...you all probably hate me now, don't you? It's okay. I can accept the truth. FYI, that last scene is _definitely_ the reason why I changed the rating of this story from K+ to T. So yes, I had this planned a long time ago. It is also the first make out scene I've ever written despite this being my bajillionth romance fic, so hopefully I can only get better at writing those from here.

Please review :)


	20. Chapter 19

**Title**: Paparazzi  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: The idea of the media popularizing the thought of Dick and Barbara getting married was originally from **GraysonsGirl** and her Teen Titans story: "Drive By Media." I have asked permission to use it for my own YJ story. All copyrighted characters also do not belong to me.  
**Words**: 3,700+  
**Notes**: Whoaaa, so many reviews! Thanks for the comments! I really appreciate with what you guys have to say!

**X-X-X-**

"Beast Boy," Superboy called through his comm. link. "You don't have to spy on LexCorp anymore. Come meet up with us."

"Are you sure about that, Superboy?"

"Yeah, Luthor won't be in his office," he muttered, staring at the dark car that had just pulled up to the entrance of the warehouse. Even without the binoculars, he could see the familiar bald man leave the vehicle. "He's already here."

"Roger. I'm on my way," said Beast Boy.

Superboy studied his situation, noticing the setting sun and the seemingly increase in security for the abandoned warehouse that Lex had just stepped into. He was quite aware of how difficult it was to breathe, but paid no attention to it at the moment.

"Alright, Lagoon Boy, Blue Beetle, meet me—"

Before he could finish the sentence, all he heard was static in his ears.

"Lagoon Boy? Blue Beetle? Beast Boy?" Superboy continued to say before yanking out the earpiece and attempting to change its frequency. "Can you hear me?"

"We can hear you, hermano," said a voice from behind.

Superboy turned around, earpiece still in his hand. There in front of him was Blue Beetle, hovering in the air. He looked down from his position on the branch and could see Lagoon Boy at the base of the nearby building.

"Signal went out," Blue Beetle explained. "None of our comm. links work."

"What are we going to do now?" Lagoon Boy asked.

Superboy frowned, looking down at his ear piece and then across the street at the warehouse. Finally, he glanced back at his teammates.

"We're going to wait for Beast Boy to come here." He paused, the end of his lips twitching as he felt another jolt of pain run through his body, but managed to keep his composure. He had a feeling he knew what was inside that warehouse. "And then we're going to investigate."

* * *

"_We're here at Richard Grayson's party at Le Musée des Rouges-Gorges where many of our Nation's finest have been showing up by the hour, ranging from city elites to Hollywood celebrities._

"_This is Richard Grayson's very first party independent of his foster father, Bruce Wayne, who is reported to be trekking in the Amazon Forest at this very moment with a research team, but as you can see here, there is no difference in the number of attendees. The question is: will Grayson live up to Wayne? Only time will tell. _

"_Word on the street is the invite list is the _exact_ same as the list from Grayson's engagement with Barbara Gordon though there has been no sighting of the daughter of Gotham's Commissioner. In fact, sources say that Grayson showed up to the event with a _different_ girl wrapped around his arms. _

"_Grayson's current belle of the ball is Gotham's very own Susie Alexander, daughter of the infamous Gabriel Alexander of the Xander law firm. Looks like Grayson was serious about taking a break from Gordon."_

Lois turned the TV screen off, wondering how Dick Grayson was fairing at the party. He did offer to fly her to Gotham so that she could be one of the few reporters who could be a part of the party itself, but between Gotham and Metropolis, her gut was telling her that Metropolis was the place to be, even with Conner shooing her away from the scene.

At the thought, her lips curved downwards and sat on the edges of Clark's bed (basically her bed too considering how often she stayed there).

She flipped out the phone from her purse and went through its contacts again. Sometimes Lois wondered if she hadn't grown up with a general for a father, and if she hadn't become a reporter, if she would be a thief like Catwoman. Conner sure didn't notice her swiping this phone away from him earlier when he told her to leave the premises, so she definitely had the skills for it. The kid didn't need it, she knew. She noticed the communications link attached to his ear before she left.

There weren't many contacts on the phone, just a girl named Megan and some of the kids she recognized from his high school yearbook. Not even a superhero she could contact.

And then she heard a pin drop.

Quite literally. It was coming from the phone, the quietest sound she had ever heard and wouldn't have heard had she not been silent in an empty room and holding the phone close to her face.

"Don't tell me that's his ringtone…" she muttered, but knew it made sense. If someone was contacting him during a mission, it shouldn't be loud enough so that anyone could hear, but should be loud enough for his ears to pick up.

The pin dropped again, and Lois looked at the phone like a kid staring at the entrance of a candy store.

To answer or not to answer?

She smirked, pressing onto the buttons before holding the phone to her ear.

"Superboy? What's your status? I can't get to you through the comm. link at all. Superboy?" It was a young boy. Either Beast Boy or Robin, Lois suspected. Probably the latter considering the crack in his voice. Grayson sounded the exact same way when he was going through puberty.

"Lois Lane, Daily Planet. Superboy is currently on a mission right now, but I'm sure I can pass on whatever message you have to him. So which pre-pubescent kid is this?"

She was met with silence, and then: "_What_? How did you get a hold of th—never mind. I shouldn't have asked." Ah-ha, so he _did_ know of her. Smart kid, she thought. Definitely a Robin.

When she realized that the heroes on the other side of the phone were confused as to what to do, she took initiative. "So Conner's communication signals are down, huh? Is it just the power around that block or the link between your teams?"

"Look Lois, I know you want to help, but we—"

"_But_," she interrupted, "I've been in and out of LexCorp a dozen and a half times. I've known that man longer than you have been a superhero, Robin."

"How did you know I was R—never mind."

Lois grinned. "Trust me kid, you'll need me."

* * *

Dick could feel his date's tug on his arm grow tighter and tighter with each female guest he ran into and spoke with. He kept a straight face through it all, smiling charmingly and mimicking Bruce's party etiquette. He wandered throughout the entire ballroom all the while scolding himself for getting a date for the event in the first place.

He and Barbara had talked about it though, that in order to make it convincing to the public that their engagement was, in fact, over, they would have to have separate appearances and possibly with different dates. It just never occurred to him that she would show up in _that_ dress with _that_ attitude and _that_ goal in mind.

"Richie? Is something wrong?"

He turned to his date, and shook his head. "Just wondering how Bruce deals with this all, Susie." But he put his arm around the girl, internally wincing at how awkward it felt that it wasn't Barbara's shoulders that his arm was resting on, and guided her to the next crowd of people.

"Uh, hello," he greeted the stranger in the black dress.

The woman turned around, revealing a tall, strong built and smiled before holding out her hand.

"Hope Taya of LexCorp," she said while shaking Dick's hand. "I'm here as a representative for Mr. Lex Luthor. Unfortunately something has come up that required his immediate attention in Metropolis, however he wishes to thank you for the invitation and if need be, I can direct all messages to him concerning LexCorp and Wayne Industries."

Dick studied the woman who had just revealed an entire passage through memorization, frowning on the inside at the thought of Lex choosing to stay in Metropolis rather than taking the oppourtunity to suggest another merger between their companies.

He simply nodded at the woman and said, "Ah I see, well thank you for coming Ms. Taya, but I'm sure any messages I have for him can be discussed privately."

She shook her head in affirmation, and the two groups quickly departed.

"Richie, where are you taking me?" Susie whined from the back.

Dick hadn't even realized that he was dragging the poor girl across the length of the ballroom so he quickly let her go. "Uh, sorry about that Susie. But I just have some urgent things to take care of." Slowing his steps, he turned to her. "I'm sorry about that, but…maybe we can meet up later for a dance?"

The girl crossed her arms looking peeved. "But I really wanted to be with you tonight…"

He tried not to sigh in annoyance. "I really am sorry, Susie, but dance floor—I promise." Following that, he gave her a peck on the cheek on her pouting face, only to see her finally give in and agree with him. He had no time feeling bad about ditching his date last minute; he knew there were far more important things to deal with at the moment.

He subtly tapped onto the side of his ear, but where the familiar humming noise should have been, there was no signal coming from the earpiece. Just static. He frowned, knowing that there was nothing wrong with the communication link earlier when he checked. Finally, he decided to go towards the tables.

"Alfred," he called and approached the butler who was handling the catering affairs. "I need to talk to you for a bit."

"Yes, Master Richard?"

"Do you think you could contact the Drakes. Call Tim, actually, since his father's probably busy. I was told that a few of his socialites would be coming, but I can't seem to get a hold of them through my phone."

Alfred nodded understandingly. "Of course, Master Richard. Is there anything else?"

"Yeah, tell him that there's a change in plans. They were supposed to meet up and discuss some business with Lex Luthor, but it seems that Lex is caught up with work at LexCorp and wasn't able to make it to Gotham."

"Very well, sir."

Before he could turn around to greet the rest of the guests and search for the red head he hadn't seen for several hours, he ran into three familiar girls. Dick consequently stood taller on his spot and put on the playful grin.

"Miss Morse," he greeted the humanoid Martian. "So glad you could make it. And I see you've brought friends." There was a skeptical Karen and a gleeful Cassie who looked like she was about to faint at the sight of him.

In a gentlemanly manner, he grabbed Karen's hand, bowed down, and placed his lips on it. He did the same with Cassie's hand much to her delight. Standing up, he said, "You must be Miss Beecher, the famous apiologist. I hear your company makes the finest honey," he joked and then nodded his head towards Cassie. "And you must be Miss Sandsmark. I believe your cousin is the leader of one of the world's top feminist groups?"

"You did your homework, Mr. Grayson," Karen commented.

"Always, Miss Beecher. It's nice to have finally met you. And you as well, Miss Sandsmark. I got your letter by the way—thank you for the kind words."

Karen looked confused while Cassie blushed.

"Where's Barbara anyway? I _assumed_ she would be here." Karen asked.

"_Karen_!" Cassie scolded.

The question brought back the memory of him and Barbara earlier; it formed a frown on his face which quickly diminished as he regained his poise. With a false grin, he replied, "I'm actually not sure. She told me earlier today she would be here, but she must be kept up at work."

He turned towards the auburn haired girl with a fuchsia gown on. She was technically still playing the role of his bodyguard. "She's actually why I wanted to speak with you, Megan. You know this party's the biggest event in Gotham currently; I'm worried Babs is held up with the paparazzi somewhere in the city. Do you think…you could go find her? We'll keep in touch, of course, in case anything comes up."

"_Where is she really, Dick?" _She asked through the mind link at the same time she spoke out loud: "Of course, Mr. Grayson. I'll get to it immediately."

Dick gave a thank you and excused himself from the group.

"_I don't know M'gann. I really don't. Can you contact Superboy by the way? His comm. link is down."_

He could see in the corner of his eyes Megan talking to Karen and Cassie and then picking up the layers of her gown to leave the ballroom.

"_No, I can't connect with him this far off. Karen's and Cassie's communication links are down too."_

Dick muttered a curse and quickly looked around for an escape route. The building was too full on all floors for him to make a quick getaway just so he could use his computer which was bothering him beneath the sleeve of his tux. The idea that three teams were now unable to contact each other and that Barbara hadn't shown up to the party worried him.

"_Okay, check Barbara's house first in case she's at home. I made a call earlier but sometimes she doesn't pick up her phone cause…"_

"_You two had another fight, didn't you?"_

Dick winced. _"Not…exactly."_ He could basically hear Megan's sigh through their mind.

"_Just stay on the lookout, Dick. I'll stay on the mind link with you if you play the role of Nightwing, because I need to make sure Karen and Cassie are connected too."_

"_Sure thing. Thanks, M'gann."_

* * *

"Communications are still down in Metropolis," Mal stated, fiddling with the buttons on the large computers.

"They're still down in Gotham too," replied a peeved Robin. His brows were visibly furrowed above his mask as he tried to reconfigure the system, but even the new Boy Wonder who was claimed to be one of the best hackers (potentially better than Dick Grayson himself back when he was starting out, though that was a controversial topic) that Batman had ever come across couldn't seem to get things to be working.

"I got a phone call from…Nightwing," Robin added, recalling the conversation with Alfred. "He said that even within Gotham, gamma and alpha teams can't communicate unless it's through mind link and…"

"And?"

"And that Luthor's not in Gotham. He made up an excuse and should still be in Metropolis."

"Do you think Beta team knows?"

Robin glanced at the time. It had been several hours since Beta squad had been stationed in Metropolis and only two hours since Dick's party had started.

"If they don't know yet, they should soon." He then heard a _psst_ over the system and sighed.

He almost forgot Lois was still online with them.

"Yes, Lois?"

He pulled her video over to the holographic screen. The woman had somehow convinced him and Mal to allow her to join in on the mission. Robin could hear Nightwing's—Batgirl's, actually—scolding voice in his head for doing so. She was clearly in Clark's room, which made Robin wonder why she wasn't in her own; Mal wouldn't answer when he asked and Lois just laughed.

"Are you sure the file you sent me had _every_ employee at LexCorp and includes all of his business associates in the past three months?"

Robin nodded.

Lois threw her hands in the air. "Well, I can't find her."

"Find who?" Mal asked.

Suddenly, the expression on Lois's face grew serious. "When I was kicked out of LexCorp a few weeks ago, I saw a woman there that looked like she meant business leaving an office. I only caught a glimpse of this woman, but I have never seen her in LexCorp before."

There were skeptical looks on the heroes' faces, which obviously bothered Lois.

"Look," she continued, "I've been in and out of LexCorp _many_ times, and I know a lot of things not everyone in my field should know. _That_ woman was not your regular business associate or lackey."

Realizing he had nothing else to lose, Robin accepted the fact. "Alright Lois, describe her to us."

* * *

Batgirl had managed to stop two robberies that had taken place at the outskirts of the city that evening, venting her anger out on the criminals whom she slightly pitied after watching the ambulance, rather than police cars, take them away. But as she travelled towards the docks and saw an unfamiliar group of workers, the feeling quickly faded.

She had sent a message to Dick quite a while ago, just before she donned on her outfit and decided to patrol the city first and attend the party later, but he hadn't responded. She wasn't worried though, knowing full well how distracting the Wayne-Grayson parties could get.

At the thought, she felt the need to vent her anger out on another criminal, recalling her foolish decisions at the start of the party. Her eyes lowered, and she lifted her hand; her fingers trembled as she touched her lips, remembering the feeling of his lips on hers. It had felt _amazing_, and most of all _right_. At least, for the most part before the ending.

She peered through her binoculars, and zoomed in on the workers. Her thoughts, however, still focused on hers and Dick's fiasco earlier that night.

She groaned. Why did their relationship have to be so complicated?

But these thoughts were quickly snapped away the moment she spotted the LexCorp insignia on one of the worker's uniforms. Remaining on the rooftop, she squinted to see what the boxes contained, but they weren't labelled.

The redhead leapt off of the roof, running and hiding in dark corners to get a closer look. She was less than ten feet away by that point, peering from behind one of the warehouses and watching the not-at-all suspicious looking crew continue with their work.

"Hey! Be careful with that. Mr. Luthor will have our heads if you drop it."

Had LexCorp been involved with some sort of business settlement in Gotham, she was sure Dick would have told her, so the idea that these men and women were transferring goods under Lex's orders was peculiar.

Before she could do anything, someone grabbed her from behind.

* * *

Superboy had sent Beast Boy—as a bird—to fly towards the warehouse windows to check what was happening inside. The team had initially moved up closer to the building, but the shorter the distance was between them, the more he had found it difficult to breathe.

"It…Might…" He had panted, struggling to let the words out. "Be…Kryptonite."

His moments came in lapses, but Blue Beetle and Lagoon Boy figured it would be safer to move Superboy back to their original hiding spot. All three were still on the lookout with their surroundings though. Superboy was trailing the green bird with his binoculars, taking note of which windows the small animal had checked.

But then the small dot in his vision was met with something else that flew from inside the building.

He gasped. "Beast Boy's been shot down."

"What?"

"We're going in, _now_," Superboy commanded.

With that, Beta squad began running towards the warehouse, pushing through the guards and the steel doors down in the process. There was no time spent searching for Beast Boy though. The green boy was already in front of them, on the ground and by a pair of boots.

They all stared at the woman in front of them. Superboy's eyes widened.

"No…Not you…"

* * *

"She was blonde and tanned," Lois explained, and Robin and Mal took in every word. They were quite glad at the fact that reporters, especially Lois, had an eye for detail and a pretty good memory. "Almond shaped eyes…not too small, but they weren't too big either."

"What else?" Robin asked.

"Plump lips."

Mal sighed. "That's not very usef—"

"I think she was Asian, which is odd because I don't think Asians are naturally blonde, but maybe it was dyed and I didn't notice," Lois rambled. "If so then that's a _really_ good dye job."

He and Robin looked up at the screen again and then at each other. Robin gave the older hero a nod.

"I'll call him," he said.

* * *

Wally West stepped into his California home after a day of working in the lab as an assistant. It was poorly paid, of course, not that he had much to pay with his and Artemis's scholarships covering most of their school fees, but with the way he ate, there was certainly quite a large cost that came with grocery shopping. Not to mention he had other bills to pay.

"Honey, I'm home!" He joked, throwing his keys on the dining room table. The speedster was only greeted by their dog and no one else.

Confused, Wally went straight for the bedroom where he found a note lying on their bed.

_Roy and Jade needed a babysitter. I'll be with Lian for the night. Food's in the fridge, microwave it for two minutes at least._

_Love, Artemis._

Wally sighed at the realization that he had to eat dinner alone again. Before he could open the fridge though, the phone rang.

.

* * *

**A/N:** The next few chapters will be similar to this, with many scenes taking place at once with different characters (hopefully in a manner that isn't too confusing).

Yay, we're a little bit closer to solving this mystery!


End file.
